Stella by Starlight Pt 1
by thesituation016
Summary: PT: 1 Stolen from her home and relentlessly experimented upon, she thought there was no hope for her future until The Face of Boe saved her and started her on the path of a life of adventure, excitement, and romance. ON INDEFINITE HIATUS.
1. Chapter 1

A young woman lay on a bed in what seemed to be a high tech futuristic white medical room. The whole of the room was empty save the bed with the round scanner that had blue lights on it moving up and down her from her head to her feet. She wore a white spaghetti strapped gown that reached down to her knees.

She had waist length wavy hair in varying shades of brown, full pink lips, a button nose, she was '5,5', and her eyes were an icy blue that almost seemed to glow, a side effect of the experiments that had been done upon her over the years.

Silver lines like that of a computer chip formed along her spine and reached out over her back like a pair of cybernetic wings that at first glance looked like tattoos, but they were real threads of metal imbedded into her still soft alabaster skin, although her skin had almost a metallic shimmer to it.

Thin lines outlined her elbows, knees, ankles, wrists, hips, hands, and accented her arms, legs, neck, chest, and stomach. In the dark the lines glowed the colors of a blue opal, pulsing with energy. He face was left free of these lines and behind her neck was a silver circular port hole and over it was a barcode.

She had been here for a great deal of time or at least it felt like a great deal of time and they had run so many tests on her. The last thing she remembered was camping out in the Rocky's of Colorado. She had been hiking when there was a sharp sting in the back of her neck followed by unconsciousness.

They had her strapped down again when she woke up from the last drug induced coma they put her in so she couldn't move and were injecting some sort of blue liquid into her arm. It burned as it traveled through her veins and tears streamed from her eyes. She screamed as the pain increased then there was nothing. She went limp on the table having blacked out and then they started the operations, combing her organic systems with cybernetic. The operations were systematic, replacing parts of her one at a time.

There were three strange humanoid creatures in the room, their skin metallic in appearance although each had a different color. They shared the same eye color of gold and looked reptilian in appearance with scaled covering their bodies, long flexible tails, and three fingered clawed hands. They each wore white medical garbs with v shaped insignias on the upper arms of their lab coats.

"We'll remove her will and emotions next, that will complete our experiments." A blue one said, obviously the one in charge.

"Very good." A yellow one said as he motioned to a nearby guard. "Take her to her cell."

"Who knew out of all of these species it was a mere human that held the key to our enhancement studies." Blue commented.

"Yes, with the enhancements we made on her body we will be able to make armies of great strength that will last for millions of generations." A green one said. "All we need is more humans."

The guard did as he was told and carried her down a series of halls past other cells that contained the remains of past experiments, Stella was the only one left alive. The Lacerta were a race bent on conquering their system, but due to limited military personnel they had to look to outside their own limited population which brought about the kidnapping and experimentation of other species for their own benefit.

-0-

Stella jolted awake from a nightmare just to find herself still trapped in a real one. It had been at least a year since she was taken while out on a camping trip. It was just supposed to be a simple vacation to get away from it all, away from the condolences and the sadness of her loss, and away from the overwhelming loneliness despite being surrounded by people who 'cared'. She had to get away from it all and find some peace. It was going great to, she was coming to terms with it all, only for it all to end in disaster when kidnapped by the reptilian rainbow bunch.

She slowly sat up looking herself over, taking in the opal blue colored lines that covered her body showing through the white knee length quarter length sleeved dress that they had put her in and her skin was still covered in the lines that marked her as a cyborg.

She had come to terms more or less with her physical change over the months so she was able to take it in her stride now whenever she found a piece of herself changed. All that was left now was her mind, everything else had been enhanced cybernetically, the brain they were saving for last.

She walked over to a mirror that hung over a small sink in the stainless steel room taking in her almost glowing light blue eyes with pupils that focused more like a camera lens now, but at least her face was free of the lines. She looked over her slightly angular face, button nose, and full pink lips, noticing how they had not really changed how she had looked before, but had enhanced it, perfected it really.

She slammed her hands down on the sink ripping it out of the wall so that it crashed to the ground. This was not the first time she had wrecked a room and she had doubts that it would be her last for as long as she was a captive there.

"What the…?" Stella startled when alarms suddenly started to blare. Her head snapped from side to side searching for the source of the noise before realizing it was coming from outside her cell.

She ran over to the door and started to pound on it with the intention of getting someone's attention. Instead the door gained some dents. She eyed the door for a moment then thrust her hands between the crevice where the doors met and pulled them open after a little effort.

"Well that's interesting." She said as she looked down at her new hands, the latest replacement they had done to her.

"There she is." A man in uniform said rushing over to Stella, who was more than relieved to see a human. "Don't worry ma'am, we're here to rescue you on behalf of the Face of Boe."

"Who?" Stella looked at the man in confusion, but he didn't answer, instead he typed some stuff into a vortex manipulator then grabbed her. Before she could react they were sucked into a blinding portal then deposited in a stately room in front of a big head in a glass tank. "And I thought my life couldn't get any more messed up."

"Welcome Stella Quinn, I am the Face of Boe." She heard a soft voice say in her head.

"Trippy." Stella muttered placing a hand to her head. "So you know my name, how?"

"I know it because I have met you, although you have not met me." Boe replied.

"You remind me of a smoking caterpillar I once read about." Stella commented and Boe chuckled. "Why did you save me?"

"Because, even if you do not believe me, you are my friend and one day I will be yours. I have been searching for you for a long time." Boe said gently. "I will help you with what you now are and I promise you that you will never have a dull moment, nor will you ever be alone again."

"You can promise that?" Stella asked cocking her head to the side.

"I can." Boe replied causing a slow smile to grow on her face. Deep down she knew that she would never return to her old life and that was fine by her now.

-0-

"You take me to all the best places." Stella commented as she stood beside the Face of Boe looking out over the Earth.

Stella had jaw length wavy light and dark brown hair with side swept bangs cut just above her vivid light blue eyes. She wore a dark blue lace high neck halter top sleeveless backless dress with a black sweet heart under top, a thick red belt, a flowing chiffon dark blue skirt that reached down to her fee barely brushing the ground, and a pair of red open toed flats. She also wore a pair of silver teardrop ruby earrings, a ruby pendant hanging from a long silver chain, and a cuff bracelet of silver entwining vines accented with sparkling ruby chips. Her cybertronic markings glowed softly along her visible skin, it had taken her some time to become confident enough to show them off, but Boe had helped her along.

"Only the best for you." He replied with a smirk.

"I'd call you a smart butt but…" Stella smiled making Boe laugh as they stood waiting to be announced in a hallway.

"We have in attendance the Doctor and Rose Tyler." The Steward called out. "Thank you. All staff to their positions." A lot of small people appear taking their places to wait on the guests. "Hurry, now, thank you. Quick as we can. Come along, come along. And now, might I introduce the next honored guest? Representing the Forest of Cheam, we have trees, namely, Jabe, Lute and Coffa."

An elegant bark-skinned woman enters with two larger male escorts, all of them looking as if they had stepped out of a story book.

"There will be an exchange of gifts representing peace. If you could keep the room circulating, thank you. Next, from the solicitors Jolco and Jolco, we have the Moxx of Balhoon. "

A blue alien, mostly head and body unlike the steward, sitting on a transport pod entered the room.

"And next, from Financial Family Seven, we have the Adherents of the Repeated Meme."

A group of black-robed bipeds come forward.

"The inventors of Hypo-slip Travel Systems, the brothers Hop Pyleen. Thank you."

Fur clad reptilians come in.

"Cal Spark Plug. Mister and Mrs. Pakoo. The Ambassadors from the City State of Binding Light."

"From the Silver Devastation, the sponsor of the main event, please welcome the Face of Boe and his escort Miss Stella Quinn."

"Looks like we're on old man." Stella said as they walked through the doorway. Stella walked from person to person giving and receiving gifts on behalf of herself and the Face of Boe.

"Miss Stella, hello." The man who was announced as the Doctor said cheerfully while shaking her hand enthusiastically as the nervous girl next to him managed a small nod coupled with a twitchy smile.

"Hello Doctor and Rose Tyler." Stella said with a bright smile and handed them each a gold bracelet engraved with a swirling star pattern as well as rainbow diamond chips. "May these be enduring signs of friendship and lasting peace."

"Oh they're gorgeous." Rose said as she slipped it onto her wrist. "Thank you."

"You're welcome Miss Tyler." Stella said with a smiled to the young girl.

"Oh, right, and I give you air from my lungs." The Doctor said breathing on her.

"Thank you." Stella said with a nod then reached into her pocket hidden in her dress and held something out to him.

"What's this?" He asked his brows furrowing as he held out his hand.

"A breath mint." Stella replied dropping it into his hand then turning on her heel walked back to the Face of Boe. She could hear Rose laughing and feel the Doctor's frown at her jibe. Boe had told her so many stories about him and he was quite interesting to say the least plus she could never resist a laugh.

"And last but not least, our very special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, and trees and multiforms, consider the Earth below. In memory of this dying world, we call forth the last Human. The Lady Cassandra O'Brien Dot Delta Seventeen." A face in a piece of thin skin stretched in a rectangular frame was wheeled in by two men hidden in top-to-toe hospital whites.

"Oh, now, don't stare. I know, I know it's shocking, isn't it? I've had my chin completely taken away and look at the difference. Look how thin I am. Thin and dainty. I don't look a day over two thousand." Cassandra said loftily. "Moisturize me. Moisturize me." One of her attendants uses a pump spray on the skin. "Truly, I am the last Human. My father was a Texan, my mother was from the Arctic Desert. They were born on the Earth and were the last to be buried in its soil. I have come to honor them and say goodbye. Oh, no tears, no tears. I'm sorry. But behold, I bring gifts. From Earth itself, the last remaining ostrich egg. Legend says it had a wingspan of fifty feet and blew fire from its nostrils. Or was that my third husband? Oh, no. Oh, don't laugh. I'll get laughter lines. And here, another rarity." A 50's juke box was wheeled in. "According to the archives, this was called an iPod. It stores classical music from humanity's greatest composers. Play on!"

One of the little attendants pressed a button, a 45 was selected and the strains of Tainted Love by Soft Cell rang out. Stella bit her lip as her hands clenched and un-clenched, her feet twitching forward.

"Don't." Boe said softly to Stella, stopping her.

"But she's so stupid." Stella said with a pained look.

"Let it go." Boe said.

"I never should have agreed to watch that movie with you." Stella grumbled.

"Refreshments will now be served. Earth Death in thirty minutes." The Steward said.

"Nibbles." Stella said with a smile as she made her plate then noticed Rose running out of the room. The Doctor went to follow her, but got intercepted.

"Doctor?" Jabe took a picture of him. "Thank you."

The Doctor shot her a confused look before going after Rose again. Stella walked up to Jabe as she consulted her camera, which twittered like a bird.

"Hello Jabe." Stella said smiling at her old friend.

"Greetings Stella." Jabe replied still looking at her device.

"Any reason for the photo ambush of the big eared man?" Stella asked, pooping the last of her nibbles into her mouth.

"He is familiar, but I know not from where." Jabe replied accepting the change in subject. "Identify species. Please identify species. Now stop it. Identify his race. Where's he from?"

"Interesting." Stella said as they read the results.

"You don't sound surprised." Jabe commented looking to Stella.

"That's because I'm not." Stella replied as Jabe looked at her in deep shock then suddenly the Station shook.

"Indubitably, this is the Bad Wolf scenario. I find the inherent laxity of the on-going multiverse." Moxx said to the others as the Doctor and Rose entered the room.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that. What do you think, Jabe, Stella?" The Doctor questioned. "Listened to the engines. They've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?"

"It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me." Jabe replied.

"No, he's right, something is way off." Stella said with a concerned look.

"Where's the engine room?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite, I could show you and your wife." Jabe said gesturing between the Doctor and Rose.

"She's not my wife." The Doctor said.

"Partner?" Jabe asked.

"No." The Doctor replied.

"Concubine?" Jabe asked.

"Nope." The Doctor shook his head.

"Prostitute?" Jabe asked.

"Whatever I am, it must be invisible." Rose scoffed. "Do you mind?"

"Jabe stop insulting Rose and just ask the Doctor on a date already." Stella rolled her eyes as Jabe blushed.

"Tell you what, you two go and pollinate. I'm going to catch up with family." Rose said looking to Cassandra. "Quick word with Michael Jackson."

"Don't start a fight." The Doctor called after her as she went over to the piece of skin then he offered Jabe his arm. "I'm all yours."

"And I want you home by midnight." Rose called out.

"Don't worry, I'll be chaperoning this little get together, he'll be home on time and with what honor he has left intact." Stella said with a smirk as she walked with the Doctor and Jabe.

"Oi." The Doctor shot her a look.

"Earth Death in fifteen minutes. Earth Death in fifteen minutes."

-0-

"Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a Captain or what?" The Doctor questioned them as they made their way through the maintenance duct.

"There's just the Steward and the staff." Stella replied.

"All the rest is controlled by the metal mind." Jabe added.

"You mean the computer? But who controls that?" The Doctor asked.

"The Corporation." Stella said.

"They move Platform One from one artistic event to another." Jabe explained.

"But there's no one from the Corporation on board." The Doctor said.

"They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong." Jabe said confidently.

"Unsinkable?" The Doctor said.

"If you like." Jabe nodded. "The nautical metaphor is appropriate."

"You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable. I ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn't half cold." The Doctor said shivering slightly. "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

"I'm afraid not." Jabe shook her head.

"Fantastic." The Doctor replied.

"I don't understand. In what way is that fantastic?" Jabe asked.

"Sarcasm Jabe." Stella said patting Jabe on her shoulder looking to movement to her left, but seeing nothing.

"Oh, right." Jabe nodded in understanding.

"So tell me, Jabe, what's a tree like you doing in a place like this?" The Doctor asked.

"Respect for the Earth." Jabe said.

"Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform's worth zillions." The Doctor scoffed.

"Well, perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions." Jade replied reluctantly.

"In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land." The Doctor said.

"All the same, we respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest." Jabe told him. "Stella herself of past earth."

The Doctor paused in what he was doing and looked to Stella with a raised eyebrow as she was glaring at Jabe.

"Past earth?" The Doctor echoed. "The earth hasn't been habitable for centuries, how past are we talking?"

"Oh, um…I want to say around 2014 more or less." Stella said thoughtfully then shrugged. "It's a long story."

"Long life." The Doctor said.

"Tell me about it." Stella rolled her eyes letting out an annoyed noise.

"To long even for a cyborg." The Doctor said.

"Yeah well I time hop." Stella said, not surprised he noticed what she was right away, as she held up her arm revealing a Time Vortex Manipulator. "The Face of Boe programmed it for me so that whenever it blinks I press this button and it takes me to a point in his time stream where he thinks I need to be."

"Do you ever go anywhere else with it?" The Doctor questioned.

"Nope, Boe said it'd be too dangerous and I trust him." Stella replied rocking on her heels. "Last thing I want to do is a butterfly effect."

"Butterfly effect?" Jabe looked to her.

"Step on a butterfly in the past and somehow you were never born." Stella replied. "Kind of an extreme, but it still rings true."

"Excuse me." The Doctor said moving past her to scan a door panel marked Welcome to Platform One. Then it flashed Guide of Platform One Do You Need Assistance. A keypad labelled Maintenance log in appeared, then Access was denied.

"And what about your ancestry, Doctor? Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left. I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species. It refused to admit your existence. And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it. But it was right. I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just wanted to say how sorry I am." Jabe puts her hand on his arm, and the Doctor puts his hand over hers.

"As am I, the loss of family is never an easy thing to bear." Stella said empathetically taking his free hand and giving it a gentle squeeze before letting it go as tears threated to spill from his eyes. He shook off his sadness getting the door open and they stepped into the room that ran the whole depth of the Platform. The Doctor Stella and Jabe were by a catwalk that ran through a series of large fans.

"Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm fine." Stella said.

"You also have inner workings that allow your temperature to remain the same." Jabe joked.

"True, but I can still overheat." Stella nodded.

"Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it retro." The Doctor said as he scanned a panel. "Gotcha." He pulled it off and spider scuttled out and up the wall. "What the hell's that?"

"Is it part of the retro?" Jabe asked.

"I don't think so." Stella said.

"Hold on." The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the spider, then Jabe lassoes it.

"Hey, nice liana." The Doctor commented.

"Thank you. We're not supposed to show them in public." Jabe said with a blush.

"Rebel Jabe, I knew it was only a matter of time before I rubbed off on you." Stella smirked at Jabe who rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody." The Doctor said as he looked over the spider bot. "Now then, who's been bringing their pets on board?"

"What does it do?" Jabe asked.

"Sabotage." Stella said as she looked over the machine as well.

'Earth Death in ten minutes.'

"And the temperature's about to rocket." The Doctor said and raced down the corridor with the girls in tow. "Come on."

'Earth Death in ten minutes.'

Smoke from the Stewards room filled the corridor and the glare of the sun is coming through the small glass panel in the door. The little assistants were gathered around the door trying to figure out what had happened.

"Hold on. Get back." The Doctor soniced on another small panel.

'Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.'

"Is the Steward in there?!" Jabe asked in shock.

"He was in there." Stella said grimly.

"You can smell him." The Doctor said looking over the panel. "Hold on, there's another sun filter programmed to descend."

"It's in gallery fifteen and I bet there's someone in there to." Stella said as she and the Doctor ran off.

-0-

"There." Stella said as they skidded to a stop in front of the gallery. The Doctor sat to work on the panel.

'Sun filter descending.'

"Anyone in there?" The Doctor called out as he worked.

"Let me out!" Rose yelled.

"Oh, well, it would be you." The Doctor scoffed, but Rhea could see his fear.

"Open the door!" Rose yelled.

"Hold on. Give us two ticks." The Doctor replied working faster.

"Rose listen to me, go to the lowest point in that room and lay down as flat as you can on the ground ok?" Stella called out through the door.

"Ok." Rose replied and they could hear her moving away from the door.

"Stay there until we get the door open, do not move an inch." Stella told her.

'Sun filter descending. Sun filter descending.'

"I almost got it." The Doctor said as he worked. "There!"

'Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising. Sun filter descending.'

"Just what we need." The Doctor ground out. "The computer's getting clever."

"Stop mucking about!" Rose yelled.

"I'm not mucking about. It's fighting back." The Doctor yelled back.

"Well looks like you need some back up." Stella said as she started to work the panel along with the Doctor.

"Open the door!" Rose yelled.

"I know!" The Doctor yelled back as the glare moved down the door.

"The lock's melted!" Rose screamed.

"Of course it has." Stella ground out.

"Sun filter descending. Sun filter Descending. Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."

"The whole thing's jammed." The Doctor snapped. "I can't open the doors. Stay there! Don't move!"

"Where am I going to go, Ipswich?" Rose snapped sarcastically.

'Earth Death in five minutes.'

-0-

"The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One." Jabe told the others in the main observatory room.

"How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me." Cassandra said as her attendants took care of her.

"Summon the Steward." Moxx said.

"I'm afraid the Steward is dead." Jabe told them.

"Who killed him?" Moxx demanded.

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face." Cassandra accused Boe.

"Oi, cram it pancake. Boe would never do anything like this." Stella growled at Cassandra.

"Easy way of finding out." The Doctor said holding up the spider bot. "Someone bought their little pet on board. Let's send him back to master."

The Doctor put down the spider that Jabe was scanning, and it scuttled off to Cassandra and scans her, then goes to the black gowned group.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" Cassandra said dramatically.

"That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it." The Doctor goes over to the Adherants and heir leader tried to hit him, so he pulled off its arm.

"A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea." The Doctor said. He pulled one of the wires dangling from the arm, and the Adherants all collapse.

"Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker." The Doctor said.

"So here are the puppets where is the puppet master?" Stella said then gave the spider bot a small nudge.

"Go on, Jimbo. Go home." The Doctor urged.

The spider bot turned and it returned to Cassandra.

"I bet you were the school swots and never got kissed." Cassandra sneered. "At arms!"

Her attendants raised their spray guns.

"What are you going to do, moisturize us?" The Doctor scoffed sharing a laugh with Stella.

"With acid." Cassandra said.

"Well that might actually work." Stella said scratching the back of her head, then looked indignant. "And I'll have you know I've kissed and been kissed plenty of times."

"Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe. Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just as pretty face." Cassandra said with a snooty smile.

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?" The Doctor questioned.

"I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous." Cassandra said.

"Five billion years and it still comes down to money." The Doctor said with a dark look.

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this? Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Doctor. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours or that blender next to you." Cassandra sneered.

"Arrest her, the infidel…" Moxx ordered.

"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option." Cassandra said.

'Earth Death in three minutes.'

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead." Cassandra said smugly. "My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go? Burn, baby, burn."

"Then you'll burn with us." Jabe said.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate." Cassandra said and then there was a series of explosions through the Platform.

"Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me." Casandra gloated.

'Safety systems failing.'

"Bye, bye, darlings. Bye, bye, my darlings." Cassandra and her attendants beam out.

'Heat levels rising.'

"Reset the computer." Moxx ordered.

"Only the Steward would know how." Jabe said.

"No. We can do it by hand." Stella said and the Doctor nodded.

"Right, there must be a system restore switch. Jabe, Stella come on. You lot, just chill." The Doctor said as he and the girls ran out of the room.

'Heat rising. Earth Death in two minutes. Earth Death in two minutes. Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical.' The computer went on and on as they ran down to the engine room.

"Oh. And guess where the switch is." The Doctor said as he spotted it on the other side of the turning razor sharp fans.

'Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising.'

The Doctor pulled a breaker lever and the fans slowed a little, but it reset as soon as he let go of it.

'External temperature five thousand degrees.'

Jabe pulled the breaker and held it down.

"You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place." The Doctor said.

"I know." Jabe replied.

"Jabe, you're made of wood." The Doctor said.

"But luckily I'm not. Jabe go back to the observation deck, I'll hold it down." Stella said taking the leaver from her.

"But you'll overheat and…" Jabe tried.

"Probably get heat sick, but I'll live where as you wouldn't now go." Stella said sternly and Jabe nodded turning and leaving the room.

'Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising.'

"I'll be as quick as I can." The Doctor said.

"Sounds good, try not to get diced up." Stella said as the Doctor started through the fans making it through the first one.

'Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical.'

The Doctor looks back at Stella who was sweating profusely as she clung to the lever, her inner working trying to keep her cool, but slowly failing. He turned back to the fan and then times his run past the second fan.

'Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising. Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five.

The Doctor walks past the last fan dashes for the reset breaker just as Stella collapses on the ground, her systems on the verge of shutting down.

'Four.'

"Raise shields!" The Doctor ordered.

'One.'

A forcefield enveloped Platform One as the Earth started to boil, then exploded.

'Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair.'

In the engine rooms, the fans have slowed right down for the Doctor to run back easily to Stella. He kneeled down next to her setting her up.

"Stella? Stella can you hear me?" The Doctor shook her lightly causing her eyes to flutter open.

"Did we explode?" Stella asked weakly.

"Nope." The Doctor smiled.

"Yay!" Stella cheered weakly. "Mind carrying me back to the observation deck, I can't feel my legs."

"I think I can manage." The Doctor said lifting her up and exiting the engine room and walked to the observation deck where he is immediately beset upon by Jabe and Boe.

"She'll be fine, just needs to cool down." The Doctor said as he sat her on the ground so she was leaning against the face of Boe's tank.

"You owe me ice-cream." Stella glared at Boe who nodded with a laugh.

"Anything you want little star." Boe promised as Jabe grabbed some ice water giving it to her and Stella kicked it back chugging it down.

"Thank you Jabe." Stella said gratefully.

"You are welcome." Jabe replied handing her another drink.

"You all right?" Rose asked as the Doctor walked over to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby." The Doctor said bristling at all of the death and Stella's near death. The Doctor smashed open the alleged ostrich egg to reveal a small device. "Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed."

"Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces." Cassandra said as she was beamed back in. "Oh."

"The last human." The Doctor said darkly.

"So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club." Cassandra floundered.

"People have died, Cassandra." Stella said as she stood up using Boe to support herself as she glared darkly at Casandra. "You murdered them."

"It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries." Cassandra waved her off. "Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter…"

"And creak?" The Doctor questioned.

"And what?" Cassandra slowly started to dry out cracks forming all around her.

"Creak. You're creaking." The Doctor said.

"What? Ah! I'm drying out!" Cassandra gasped. "Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!"

"You raised the temperature." The Doctor said.

"Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, oh, Doctor. I'm sorry. Stella, I'll do anything." Cassandra begged.

"Help her." Rose urged the Doctor.

"There is nothing to be done." Stella said shaking her head.

"Everything has its time and everything dies." The Doctor said.

"I'm too young!" Cassandra cried then splat, she was no more.

-0-

'Shuttles four and six departing. This unit is now closing down for maintenance.'

Stella walked into the Observation deck to find only Rose and the Doctor were left, looking at the asteroids that were once the Earth as they float past the red giant Sun.

"Well that was quite the adventure." Stella said as she walked up to them. "Do you have these escapades often?"

"This is only my second one, I think he lives for them." Rose gestured to the Doctor.

"Not intentionally, it just happens." The Doctor defended himself.

"Well whoever the two of you are and whatever you do have fun and try to stay safe." Stella said hugging them both. "I hope to meet you both again someday."

"Me to." Rose smiled.

"It was nice to meet you and thanks for the help." The Doctor nodded.

"Anytime. Now if you'll excuse me, Boe owes me ice cream." Stella said then turned to board the shuttle with Boe. "I really do hope to see them again someday."

"You will little star." Boe said using his term of endearment for her.

"And you know this how?" Stella asked, but Boe only smirked. "I hate it when you go al cryptic on me." Rhea raised up her arm so she could work her manipulator. "I'll see you later, I wanted to go check out Rimbrant."

"What about the ice-cream?" Boe asked in amusement.

"I'll be back before you know it, then we'll get ice-cream." Stella said as she typed into her manipulator.

"Stay safe." Boe said softly.

"Never." Stella smiled with a wink before she flashed away.


	2. Chapter 2

The Empty Child

"Why? Why do I listen to that man? I know that whatever he wants to do will more than likely get me into trouble and yet here I am in this god forsaken city in the middle of a bomb raid." Stella snarled to herself as she walked down the street her hands jammed into the pockets of her long black jacket that she wore over a maroon sweater dress, black tights, ankle high black boots, and her ever present jaw length wavy hair of varying shades of brown bouncing as she walked as her light blue eyes scanned the surrounding area. "This time I'm going to kill him."

"Rose?" Stella heard the familiar voice of the Doctor called out, but there no answer. She went in search of the voice following it to the source and found the Doctor standing in an alley way holding a cat. "You know, one day, just one day, maybe, I'm going to meet someone who gets the whole don't wander off thing." The Doctor said scratching the cat behind its ear.

"No you won't." Stella said shaking her head as she walked up to him. "Humans are to easily distracted."

"Nine hundred years of phone box travel, it's the only thing left to surprise me." The Doctor said with a smiled as he looked up at her. "Hello Stella, what brings you here?"

"A wayward time agent friend that I can't seem to find: he said he was cooking up something big and wanted me in on it, that usually means he's about to get himself into a heap load of trouble and I have to be there to bail him out, sometimes literally." Stella replied with an annoyed sigh. "From the way you were calling out, I'm guessing Rose slipped off as well."

"More or less." The Doctor replied before taking her right hand. "Neat trick."

"Yeah, well not everyone is ready for the whole cyborg thing, tends to freak them out. This keeps my lines hidden so I look normal." Stella said taking her hand back which hand on her index finger a plain thin gold band ring. "Last time I forgot it, I almost ended up BBQ. Last time I ever went to Salem I can tell you that."

Suddenly the Tardis police telephone rang much to the Doctor's surprise. The Doctor opens the small door on the side of the box.

"How can you be ringing? What's that about, ringing?" The Doctor questioned looking at the phone in confusion.

"Is it not supposed to?" Stella shot him a confused look.

"No, what am I supposed to do with a ringing phone?" The Doctor replied.

"A normal person would answer it." Stella smarted off.

"Well I'm not normal." The Doctor replied taking out his sonic screwdriver as a young woman walked up the alley behind them.

"Don't answer it. It's not for you." Nancy said.

"And how do you know that?" Stella asked looking the little girl over with a raised eyebrow.

"'Cos I do. And I'm telling you, don't answer it." Nancy replied.

"Well, if you know so much, tell me this. How can it be ringing?" The Doctor said as he and Stella looked back to the Tardis. "It's not even a real phone. It's not connected, it's not…" Nancy has gone, so he starts to answer the phone, but Stella stops him pulling on his sleeve. "What?"

"In every horror flick I've ever watched from any time on any planet it's usually good to listen to the ominous warnings of strangers that disappear so suddenly." Stella said looking up at him.

"Oh, come on Stella, no harm came from answering a phone." The Doctor said and picked the phone up.

"I remember a similar question being asked in a movie called Jimanji about a game and look how that turned out." Stella pointed out with a raised eyebrow, the Doctor scoffed and answered the phone.

"Hello? Hello? This is the Doctor speaking. How may I help you?" The Doctor asked.

Mummy? Mummy?

"Who is this? Who's speaking?" The Doctor asked as Stella pulled the phone down so they could both listen.

Are you my mummy?

"Who is this?" Stella asked.

Mummy?

"How did you ring here? This isn't a real phone. It's not wired up to anything." The Doctor said.

Mummy?

Then the line went dead and the dialing tone sounded. The Doctor hung up the phone.

"See creepy." Stella said eyeing the phone as the Doctor knocked on the Tardis door then opened it up.

"Rose? Rose, are you in there?" He called in, but there's no answer.

"Ten will get you five that she's in trouble somewhere." Stella said as she leaned against the Tardis shaking her head. "More than likely with my friend to boot, pretty blonde like Rose."

Suddenly something crashed behind them and Stella instantly took off in search of the source.

"And what did those horror movies say about going toward a mysterious sound?" The Doctor called after her sarcastically.

"Don't know, I usually hide under the covers during those parts." Stella called back over her shoulder.

"Wait for me at least." The Doctor quickly closed the phone compartment ran after her, following the sound down the alley and to the street. He took a few more steps in, looking around as Stella stopped and turned to look at a part of the fence along the way.

"Hey Doctor, over here." Stella whispered quietly motioning him over.

"The planes are coming!" A woman called as the Doctor joined Stella by the fence. "Can't you hear them? Into the shelter. None of your nonsense, now move it!" They both headed to the trash cans before the fence, looking over it to see a plump woman pushing a small boy into a shelter. "Come on, come on, get in there," she looked back at the house, "Arthur! Arthur! Will you hurry up? Didn't you hear the sirens?"

A plump man stepped out of the house with a rather perturbed look on his face.

"Middle of dinner, every night. Bloomin' Germans," He made a fist and shook it up at the planes. "Don't you eat?"

The Doctor and Stella chuckled in quiet amusement.

"I can hear the planes!" The woman yelled.

"Don't you eat?!" The man continued to bellow.

"Oh, keep your voice down, will ya?" The woman said. "There's an air raid! Get in...there's a war on."

"I know there is…" the man said as he closed the door.

As soon as it was shut, the pigtailed girl crept out from behind the shelter and snuck into the house through the back door, not even noticing the Doctor and Stella watching her head to the kitchen to scavenge for food. She starts taking tinned goods from a cupboard.

-0-

Nancy finishes filling her little sack with provisions and heads for the front door. In the hallway she stops and looks into another room and smiles, then goes outside into the street, where she whistles twice then goes back inside. A pair of urchins run in to see the feast she's discovered.

"Many kids out there?" Nancy asked them.

"Yes, miss." Jim and his friend dive for the food.

"Ah! Still carving. Sit and wait. We've got the whole air raid." Nancy admonished them

"Look at that. Bet it's off the black market." Jim said looking over the big meal.

"That's enough." Nancy said as she continued to carve.

"It's got to be black market." One of the boys whispered. "He couldn't get all this on coupons."

"Ernie, how many times?" Nancy turned to him sharply. "We are guests in this house. We will not make comments of that kind. Washing up."

The other children laughed at his expense.

"Oh, Nancy!" Ernie complained.

"Haven't seen you at one of these before." Nancy looked at one of the boys sitting nearest her.

"He told me about it." The boy nodded at the boy next to him.

"Sleeping rough?" Nancy asked kindly.

"Yes, miss." He answered.

"Alright then." Nancy nodded, handing the plate around. "One slice each, and I want to see everyone chewing properly."

"Thank ya, miss!" one of the boys shouted.

"Thanks miss!" Ernie added.

"Thank you miss." another boy took a slice.

"Thanks miss!" the Doctor said, taking a slice as well before passing it to Stella.

"Thank you miss." Stella said as the children started to panic.

"It's all right. Everybody stay where you are!" Nancy ordered.

"Good here, innit? Who's got the salt?" The Doctor asked.

"Here it is." Stella said handing him the salt.

"Back in your seats, they shouldn't be here either." Nancy said as everyone started to calm down and sit back in their seats.

"So, you lot, what's the story?" The Doctor asked as they ate.

"What do you mean?" Ernie asked.

"You're homeless, right? Living rough?" Stella said as she took the glass of wine a boy near her was about to drink and tossed it over her shoulder before sitting the empty glass back on the table. "Stick with water kid."

"Why do you want to know that? Are you a copper?" Jim asked.

"Of course I'm not a copper. What's a copper going to do with you lot anyway? Arrest you for starving? I make it 1941." The Doctor said looking around at them. "You lot shouldn't even be in London. You should've been evacuated to the country by now."

"I was evacuated, sent me to a farm." Alf said.

"So why'd you come back?" Stella asked.

"There was a man there…" Alf trailed off.

"Yeah, same with Ernie, two homes ago." Jim said only for Ernie to elbow him.

"Shut up." Ernie snapped. "It's better on the streets anyway. It's better food."

"Yeah. Nancy always gets the best food for us." Jim said.

"So, that's what you do, is it, Nancy?" Stella asked looking over to Nancy.

"What is?" Nancy asked.

"As soon as the sirens go, you find a big fat family meal still warm on the table with everyone down in the air raid shelter and bingo, feeding frenzy for the homeless kids of London Town, puddings for all, as long as the bombs don't get you." The Doctor said with a smile.

"Something wrong with that?" Nancy asked.

"Wrong with it? It's brilliant. I'm not sure if it's Marxism in action or a West End musical." Stella said with a laugh as she clapped her hands together.

"Why'd you follow me? What do you want?" Nancy asked.

"I want to know how a phone that isn't a phone gets a phone call. You seem to be the one to ask." The Doctor said.

"I did you a favor. I told you not to answer it, that's all I'm telling you." Nancy replied.

"Great, thanks. And I want to find a blonde in a Union Jack. I mean a specific one. I didn't just wake up this morning with a craving." The Doctor said causing Stella to nearly choke on her water as she laughed. "Anybody seen a girl like that?"

Nancy doesn't answer, but takes the Doctor and Stella's plates away.

"What have we done wrong?" Stella asked.

"Your friend there took two slices and you threw wine on the floor." Nancy answered. "No blondes, no flags. Anything else before you leave?"

"Yeah, there is actually. Thanks for asking. Something we've been looking for. Would've fallen from the sky about a month ago, but not a bomb, not the usual kind, anyway, wouldn't have exploded." The Doctor explained making Stella's eyes shoot up. "Probably would have just buried itself in the ground somewhere, and it would have looked something like this."

The Doctor held up a piece of paper with a rough sketch of the craft the Tardis was following, basically, a tube. Before anyone can answer there's a knock at the door.

Mummy? Are you in there, mummy?

The Doctor and Stella look out of the window to see a small blonde boy with a gas mask covering his face.

Mummy?

"Who was the last one in?" Nancy asked.

"Him." Jim said pointing to Ernie.

"No, he came round the back. Who came in the front?" Nancy asked desperately.

"Me." Alf said looking a little sick.

"Did you close the door?" Nancy asked, but Alf looks uncertain. "Did you close the door?"

Mummy? Mummy? Mummy?

Nancy runs into the hallway and bolts the front door.

"What's this, then? It's never easy being the only child left out in the cold, you know." The Doctor said.

"I suppose you two know." Nancy bit out.

"I do actually, yes." The Doctor answered.

"It's not exactly a child." Nancy said.

Mummy?

"Right, everybody out. Across the back garden and under the fence. Now! Go! Move!" The children grab their coats and flee. Nancy speaks to the sole remaining little girl, who can't be more than four. "Come on, baby, we've got to go, all right? It's just like a game. Just like chasing. Take your coat, go on. Go!"

Mummy? Mummy? Please let me in, mummy. Please let me in, mummy.

A little hand comes through the letter box.

"Are you all right?" The Doctor asked as he got closer to the door.

Please let me in.

Stella grabbed the Doctor and pulled him back just as Nancy throws something that breaks at the door making the hand withdraw.

"You mustn't let him touch you!" Nancy snapped.

"What happens if he touches me?" The Doctor asked.

"He'll make you like him." Nancy answered.

"And what's he like?" Stella asked.

"I've got to go." Nancy said walking away, but Stella grabbed her.

"Nancy, what's he like?" Stella demanded.

"He's empty." Nancy answered pulling herself from Stella's grasp just as the telephone rang. "It's him. He can make phones ring. He can. Just like with that police box you saw."

The Doctor picks up the phone.

Are you my mummy?

Nancy puts the phone back on the hook. The radio starts up in the dining room.

Mummy? Please let me in, mummy.

Then a clockwork monkey starts up.

Mummy, mummy, mummy.

"You stay if you want to." Nancy leaves by the back door. The boy puts his hand through the letterbox again. There is a scar on the back of it.

Mummy? Let me in please, mummy. Please let me in.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but your mummy isn't here." Stella said gently.

Are you my mummy?

"No mummies here, nobody here but us chickens." The Doctor replied.

I'm scared.

"Why are those other children frightened of you?" The Doctor asked.

Please let me in, mummy. I'm scared of the bombs.

"Okay. I'm opening the door now." The Doctor said. The boy pulls back his hand and the Doctor unbolts the front door. When he opens it, the boy has gone and the street is deserted.

"Because that's not creepy at all." Stella muttered as they looked up and down the street.

-0-

Nancy goes to her hide out a shack in some railway sidings and hides the food she took from the Lloyd's kitchen. She stands up to see the Doctor and Stella, smiling.

"How'd you follow me here?" Nancy demanded.

"I'm good at following, me, got the nose for it." The Doctor said.

"And the ears." Stella added getting a look from the Doctor.

"People can't usually follow me if I don't want them to." Nancy said.

"My nose has special powers." The Doctor said.

"Yeah? That's why it's…" Nancy trailed off.

"What?" The Doctor asked.

"Nothing." Nancy said shaking her head.

"What?" The Doctor pressed.

"Nothing. Do your ears have special powers too?" Nancy asked.

"What're you trying to say?" He asked her calmly, already realizing what she was implying.

"That your nose and ears are big, very very VERY big." Stella said with a playful smirk.

"Yeah, I got that." The Doctor said before tugging on a strand of her hair. "Better than frizzy hair."

"Oi, it is not frizzy, it's just full bodied." Stella snapped as slapped his hand away.

"Goodnight." Nancy said as she started to leave.

"Nancy, there's something chasing you and the other kids. Looks like a boy and it isn't a boy, and it started about a month ago, right?" The Doctor asked. "The thing we're looking for, the thing that fell from the sky, that's when it landed. And you know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"There was a bomb, a bomb that wasn't a bomb. Fell the other end of Limehouse Green Station." Nancy answered.

"Take us there." Stella said.

"There are soldiers guarding it, barbed wire. You'll never get through." Nancy said.

"Try us." Stella said looking Nancy in the eye.

"You sure you want to know what's going on in there?" Nancy asked.

"We really want to know." The Doctor said.

"Then there's someone you need to talk to first." Nancy said.

"And who might that be?" Stella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The Doctor." Nancy replied and started to walk away.

"Did not see that coming." Stella muttered sharing a surprised look with the Doctor as they followed.

-0-

The Doctor uses super-binoculars to scan the area. Soldiers are guarding what seems to be a large bomb sight doused in flood lights and protected by barbed wire and wood fences.

"The bomb's under that tarpaulin. They put the fence up overnight. See that building?" Nancy said pointing to a large dark building on a hill. "The hospital."

"What about it?" Stella asked taking the binoculars from the Doctor.

"That's where the doctor is. You should talk to him." Nancy said.

"For now, I'm more interested in getting in there." The Doctor said gesturing to the guarded area.

"Talk to the doctor first." Nancy insisted.

"Why?" Stella asked.

"Because then maybe you won't want to get inside." Nancy said as she started to walk away.

"Where're you going?" The Doctor asked.

"There was a lot of food in that house. I've got mouths to feed, should be safe enough now." Nancy replied.

"Can I ask you a question? Who did you lose?" Stella asked looking intently at Nancy.

"What?" Nancy breathed out.

"The way you look after all those kids. It's because you lost somebody, isn't it? You're doing all this to make up for it." Stella said cocking her head to the side.

"My little brother. Jamie. One night I went out looking for food. Same night that thing fell. I told him not to follow me, I told him it was dangerous, but he just…he just didn't like being on his own." Nancy answered.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked.

"In the middle of an air raid? What do you think happened?" Nancy bit out.

"Amazing." The Doctor breathed out.

"What is?" Nancy asked.

"1941. Right now, not very far from here, the German war machine is rolling up the map of Europe, country after country, falling like dominoes. Nothing can stop it, nothing. Until one, tiny, damp little island says no. No. Not here, a mouse in front of a lion. You're amazing, the lot of you. Don't know what you do to Hitler, but you frighten the hell out of me." The Doctor said then waved Nancy off. "Off you go then do what you've got to do. Save the world."

-0-

The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to open the padlock on the ornate metal gates to the hospital grounds. They entered the darkened building, walking around till they reached a large room where rows of people were laying down on the beds, all with gasmasks on, looking for the entire world as though they were dead. The long, dark wards, every bed has a very still patient in it.

"This is so messed up." Stella said as they wandered till they reached a larger room, lighter than the other but still there were more gas masked people on the rows of beds. They turned quickly at a noise to see and old man in a white doctor's coat step into the room leaning on a walking stick.

"You'll find them everywhere, in every bed, in every ward, hundreds of them." He said as he sat down next to a desk.

"Yes, I saw. Why are they still wearing gas masks?" The Doctor asked.

"They're not. Who are you?" The old man asked.

"I'm, er..." The Doctor trailed off.

"Are you the doctor?" Stella asked suddenly.

"Doctor Constantine. And you are?" He asked again.

"Nancy sent us." The Doctor said still avoiding his question.

"Nancy? That means you must've been asking about the bomb." Constantine said.

"Yes." Rhea said nodding her head.

"What do you know about it?" Constantine asked.

"Nothing. Why we were asking. What do you know?" The Doctor asked.

"Only what it's done." Constantine said as he gestured to all the patients.

"These people, they were all caught up in the blast?" Stella asked.

"None of them were." Constantine said then started to cough harshly.

"You're very sick." The Doctor said.

"Dying, I should think. I just haven't been able to find the time." Constantine amended. "Are you a doctor?"

"I have my moments." The Doctor replied.

"Have you examined any of them yet?" Constantine asked.

"No." The Doctor answered.

"Don't touch the flesh." Constantine said.

"Which one?" The Doctor asked.

"Any one." The Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at the nearest patient.

"Conclusions?" Constantine asked.

"Massive head trauma, mostly to the left side. Partial collapse of the chest cavity, mostly to the right. There's some scarring on the back of the hand and the gas mask seems to be fused to the flesh, but I can't see any burns." The Doctor said as he looked the patient over.

"Examine another one." Constantine said.

"This isn't possible." The Doctor breathed.

"Examine another." Constantine said.

"This isn't possible." The doctor said as they went from patient to patient.

"No." Constantine said.

"What is it? What's wrong with them?" Stella asked looking between the Doctor and Constantine.

"They've all got the same injuries." The Doctor said.

"Yes." Constantine said.

"Exactly the same?" Stella asked in shock.

"Yes." Constantine said.

"Identical, all of them, right down to the scar on the back of the hand." The Doctor said.

"How did this happen? How did it start?" Stella asked.

"When that bomb dropped, there was just one victim." Constantine said.

"Dead?" The Doctor asked.

"At first. His injuries were truly dreadful." Constantine said. "By the following morning, every doctor and nurse who had treated him, who had touched him, had those exact same injuries. By the morning after that, every patient in the same ward, the exact same injuries. Within a week, the entire hospital. Physical injuries as plague. Can you explain that? What would you say was the cause of death?"

"The head trauma." The Doctor said.

"No." Constantine said.

"Asphyxiation." Stella said.

"No." Constantine.

"The collapse of the chest cavity." The Doctor said.

"No." Constantine said.

"All right, I give up." Stella said.

"What was the cause of death?" the Doctor asked.

"There wasn't one. They're not dead." He hits a waste basket with his stick and the noise makes the patients sit up in their beds. Stella jumped back her whole frame going tense, the Doctor just as on alert as she was. "It's all right. They're harmless. They just sort of sit there. No heartbeat, no life signs of any kind. They just don't die."

"And they've just been left here? Nobody's doing anything?" The Doctor asked as the patients lie down again.

"I try and make them comfortable. What else is there?" Constantine said.

"Just you? You're the only one here?" Stella asked.

"Before this war began, I was a father and a grandfather. Now I am neither. But I'm still a doctor." Constantine said.

"Yeah. I know the feeling." The Doctor said.

"I suspect the plan is to blow up the hospital and blame it on a German bomb." Constantine said.

"Probably too late." The Doctor said.

"No. There are isolated cases. Isolated cases breaking out all over London. Stay back, stay back. Listen to me. Top floor. Room eight oh two. That's where they took the first victim, the one from the crash site. And you must find Nancy again." Constantine said.

"Nancy?" Stella asked.

"It was her brother. She knows more than she's saying." Constantine said. "She won't tell me, but she might…Mummy. Are you my mummy?" Starting with the mouth, Doctor Contantine's face turns into a gasmask. "Mummy?"

"Oh that is not right." Stella grumbled.

"Hello?" A male voice called down the hall.

"I know that voice." Stella perked up.

"Hello?" Rose yelled.

"And I know that one." The Doctor said as they quickly turned and left the ward, emerging into the corridor just as Rose and Jack came out the other way.

-0-

"Good evening. Hope we're not interrupting. Jack Harkness. I've been hearing all about you on the way over." Jack said upon spotting the Doctor, giving him a roughish smile that dropped upon an explosion of pain in the vicinity of his upper arm. "Ow!"

"What the heck Jack?! You bring me to the god forsaken city and where were you when I arrived? Wait don't answer that, you were probably off flirting am I right?!" Stella snapped angrily, her hand still clenched into a fist as she debated hitting him again.

"Ok, Stella I know you're mad, but look on the bright side, everything is going great." Jack smiled, then whispered to her. "My plan is already working great."

"What plan?" Stella hissed with narrowed eyes.

"He knows." Rose said to the Doctor. "I had to tell him about us being Time Agents, sorry we didn't tell you before Stella."

"And it's a real pleasure to meet you, Mister Spock." Jack said shaking the Doctor's hand.

"Mister Spock?" The Doctor asked Rose as they walked down the hall.

"You know these two?" Jack asked her.

"Yeah, met them a while back in the future." Stella shrugged going along with Rose's story. "Good to see you again Rose."

"You as well Stella." Rose smiled then she looked confused. "But where are those lines you had before?"

"Well cyborg's weren't exactly common around this time so I wear this to hide them." Stella said holding up her right hand that sported a silver braided ring on her index finger with a small iridescent jewel on it. "Keeps the natives from freaking out."

"A perception filter combined with a chameleon circuit, nice." The Doctor commented having already spotted it.

"Thanks, something I whipped up in my down time." Stella said then turned to Jack with a stern look. "Come on, I want to show you something."

Stella took hold of Jack's hand and pulled him down the hall to the patients room, the Doctor and Rose following behind them.

"What was I supposed to say? You don't have a name. Don't you ever get tired of Doctor? Doctor who?" Rose said as she and the Doctor watched Stella and Jack argue in hushed tones, Stella punching him in the arm again at one point.

"Nine centuries in, I'm coping. Where've you been? We're in the middle of a London Blitz. It's not a good time for a stroll." The Doctor said changing the subject.

"Who's strolling? I went by barrage balloon. Only way to see an air raid." Rose said.

"What?!" The Doctor asked sharply.

"Listen, what's a Chula warship?" Rose asked ignoring his question.

"Chula?" The Doctor repeated as they walked into the ward. Stella dragged Jack over to one of the beds pointing to it angrily. Jack used a wrist tricorder thing to examine the patients.

"This just isn't possible. How did this happen?" Jack asked.

"What kind of Chula ship landed here?" The Doctor asked.

"What?" Jack said trying to avoid answering.

"He said it was a warship. He stole it, parked it somewhere out there, somewhere a bomb's going to fall on it unless we make him an offer." Rose answered for him.

"What kind of warship did you steal Jack?" Stella asked through gritted teeth.

"Does it matter? It's got nothing to do with this." Jack said in an agitated voice as he backed away from Stella.

"This started at the bomb site. It's got everything to do with it. What kind of warship?" The Doctor demanded, but Jack still looked reluctant to share the information.

"Jack I swear if you don't spill…" Stella let her threat hang in the air, but it seemed to be enough as Jack quickly broke under her glare.

"An ambulance! Look." Jack produced a hologram of it from his wrist device. "That's what you chased through the Time Vortex. It's space junk. I wanted to kid you it was valuable. It's empty. I made sure of it. Nothing but a shell. I threw it at you. Saw your time travel vehicle, love the retro look, by the way, nice panels. Threw you the bait."

"Bait?" Rose questioned.

"He wanted to sell it to you and then destroy it before you found out it was junk." Stella said crossing her arms and shaking her head. "And for some strange reason he thought I'd help."

"It was a good idea." Jack defended himself.

"No, it was a stupid idea. You can't keep doing this Jack." Stella ran a hand through her hair. "You're going to get yourself into real trouble one day, then what? I won't always be around to help you."

"Yes mom." Jack said sarcastically, but his face softened when he saw the concerned look in Stella's eyes. "I promise, I'll be more careful."

"Good." Stella nodded knowing that was as good as she was going to get from him.

"You said it was a war ship." Rose said to Jack gaining his attention.

"They have ambulances in wars. It was a con." He defended himself. "I was conning you. That's what I am, I'm a con man." Jack explained. "I thought you were Time Agents. You're not, are you?"

"Just a few more freelancers." Rose answered.

"Oh. Should have known. The way you guys are blending in with the local color. I mean, Flag Girl was bad enough, but U-Boat Captain?" Jack said motioning to them. "Anyway, whatever's happening here has got nothing to do with that ship."

"What is happening here, Doctor?" Rose asked.

"Human DNA is being rewritten by an idiot." The Doctor answered.

"And I can only guess who that idiot is." Stella said as she rubbed her temples.

"What do you mean?" Rose asked.

"I don't know. Some kind of virus converting human beings into these things. But why? What's the point?" The Doctor asked himself.

"I had a scary thought." Stella said suddenly.

"What?" The Doctor asked.

"What if there isn't one?" Stella replied. "What if there is no point at all?"

The patients suddenly sit up startling them all.

Mummy. Mummy. Mummy? Mummy?

"What's happening?" Rose asked.

"I don't know." The Doctor said as the patients and Doctor Constantine all stand up.

Mummy.

"Don't let them touch you." Stella warned.

"What happens if they touch us?" Rose asked.

"You're looking at it." Stella answered. The patients close in on the Doctor, Rose, Stella, and Jack.

Help me, mummy.

Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.


	3. Chapter 3

The patients were almost within touching distance of them now. They were surrounded on all sides with no hops of escape as they were forced into the middle of the room. Suddenly the Doctor stepped forward looking very stern.

"Go to your room." The Doctor ordered the patients in the ward and the child in the house stand still. "Go to your room. I mean it. I'm very, very angry with you. I am very, very cross. Go to your room!" The child and the patients hang their heads in shame and shuffle away and get back into bed. "I'm really glad that worked. Those would have been terrible last words."

"Why are they all wearing gas masks?" Rose asked.

"They're not. Those masks are flesh and bone." Jack answered.

"How was your con supposed to work?" The Doctor asked Jack.

"Simple enough, really. Find some harmless piece of space junk, let the nearest Time Agent track it back to Earth, convince him it's valuable, name a price. When he's put fifty percent up front, oops! A German bomb falls on it, destroys it forever. He never gets to see what he's paid for, never knows he's been had. I buy him a drink with his own money, and we discuss dumb luck. The perfect self-cleaning con." Jack said with a smile.

"Yeah. Perfect." Stella said sarcastically.

"The London Blitz is great for self-cleaners. Pompeii's nice if you want to make a vacation of it though, but you've got to set your alarm for volcano day." Jack smarted off.

"It never ceases to amaze me that the more you talk, more often than not Jack, the more I want to punch you right in the nose." Stella said cracking her knuckles.

"Getting a hint of disapproval." Jack replied backing away from Stella knowing she carried out her threats.

"Take a look around the room. This is what your harmless piece of space-junk did." The Doctor said gesturing around himself at all of the patients.

"It was a burnt-out medical transporter. It was empty." Jack continued to argue.

"Rose." The Doctor said taking her hand in his.

"Are we getting out of here?" Rose asked.

"We're going upstairs." Stella replied.

"I even programmed the flight computer so it wouldn't land on anything living. I harmed no-one. I don't know what's happening here, but believe me, I had nothing to do with it." Jack called out.

"I'll tell you what's happening. You forgot to set your alarm clock. It's volcano day." The Doctor said and walked away Jack following.

A siren sounded, cutting through the night air.

"What's that?" Rose asked.

"The all clear." Jack replied.

"I wish." The Doctor said darkly.

-0-

"Mister Spock? Stella?" Jack called out.

"Doctor? Stella?" Rose called out as well, walking up a staircase.

"Spock?" Stella shot Jack a confused look as she and the Doctor made their way to the next flight up.

"Have you got a blaster?" The Doctor asked Jack.

"Sure!" Jack answered. They run up to join him outside a secure metal door.

"The night your space-junk landed, someone was hurt. This was where they were taken." Stella said, clearly still angry with Jack.

"What happened?" Rose asked.

"Let's find out. Get it open." The Doctor said to Jack.

"What's wrong with your sonic screwdriver?" Rose asked the Doctor quietly.

"Nothing." The Doctor replied as Jack's blaster disintegrates the lock. "Sonic blaster, fifty first century. Weapon Factories of Villengard?"

"You've been to the factories?" Jack asked.

"Once." The Doctor replied.

"Well, they're gone now, destroyed. The main reactor went critical. Vaporized the lot." Jack said shaking his head.

"Like I said. Once. There's a banana grove there, now. I like bananas. Bananas are good." The Doctor said stepping into the room followed by Stella.

"Nice blast pattern." Rose commented.

"Digital." Jack replied.

"Squareness gun." Rose said.

"Yeah." Jack said.

"I like it." Rose said.

"Jack." Stella said warningly.

"What?" He asked.

"You know what." Stella replied with a look.

"I was just being conversational." Jack defended himself.

"See I'd believe that if I didn't know you." Stella smarted off, Jack responding with his signature grin. They walk into the room to find filing cabinets, electronic equipment and a big mess. An observation window across the room is broken, smashed to pieces.

"What do you think?" The Doctor asked Jack.

"Something got out of here." Jack answered.

"Thank you captain obvious." Stella said rolling her eyes. "What else?"

"Something powerful, angry." Jack added on.

"Powerful and angry." The Doctor repeated. There were child's crayon drawings scattered on the floor and a Steiff teddy bear.

"A child? I suppose this explains Mummy." Jack said in suprise.

"How could a child do this?" Rose asked as the Doctor turns on a tape machine.

Do you know where you are?

Are you my mummy?

Are you aware of what's around you? Can you see?

Are you my mummy?

What do you want? Do you know

I want my mummy. Are you my mummy? I want my mummy! Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Mummy? Mummy?

"Doctor, I've heard this voice before." Rose said starting to get scared.

"Me too." The Doctor replied.

Mummy?

"Always are you my mummy? Like he doesn't know." Rose said.

Mummy?

"Maybe he doesn't." Stella replied.

"Why doesn't he know?" Rose asked.

Are you there, mummy? Mummy? Mummy? Please, mummy? Mummy?

"Doctor?" Rose said nervously.

"Can you sense it?" The Doctor asked.

"Sense what?" Jack asked.

"Coming out of the walls. Can you feel it?" Stella said lifting her hands so her palms were facing the walls. "It' everywhere in here."

Mummy?

"Funny little human brains. How do you get around in those things?" The Doctor commented.

"When he's stressed, he likes to insult species." Rose said with a roll of her eyes to Jack.

"Rose, I'm thinking." The Doctor said.

"He cuts himself shaving, he does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than." Rose said with a small laugh.

"There are these children living rough round the bomb sites. They come out during air-raids looking for food." The Doctor said.

Mummy, please?

"Suppose they were there when this thing, whatever it was, landed?" Stella said softly as she tilted her head to the side.

"It was a med-ship. It was harmless." Jack argued again.

"Yes, you keep saying harmless. Suppose one of them was affected, altered?" The Doctor said.

"Altered how?" Rose asked as the tape runs out without anyone noticing.

I'm here!

"It's afraid, terribly afraid and powerful. It doesn't know it yet, but it will do. It's got the power of a god, and I just sent it to its room." The Doctor said.

I'm here. Can't you see me?

"What's that noise?" Rose asked as she noticed a flapping sound.

"End of the tape. It ran out about thirty seconds ago." Stella replied.

I'm here, now. Can't you see me?

"I sent it to its room." The Doctor said.

"And this is its room." Stella said as the all turned around to see the child in the control room.

Are you my mummy? Mummy?

"Doctor?" Rose said fearfully.

"Ok..." Jack said calmly, moving forward, "On my signal make for the door, now!"

He whipped a banana out of his coat pocket and pointed it at the child like it was his blaster. The Doctor laughed behind him, holding up the sonic blaster, before turning and using it on the wall, making a large square hole.

"Go!" He shouted. "Now! Don't drop the banana!"

"Why not?!" Jack called, making his way through the hole after the girls.

"Good source of potassium!" The Doctor replied as they found themselves in a hallway, the child walking towards them from inside the room. Jack ran forward and grabbed the sonic blaster back from the Doctor.

"Give me that!" He snapped.

Mummy. I want my mummy.

Jack uses his blaster to repair the hole in the wall.

"Digital rewind." Jack said. "Nice switch."

"It's from the groves of Villengard. I thought it was appropriate." The Doctor said as he pocketed the banana.

"There's really a banana grove in the heart of Villengard and you did that?" Jack asked.

"Bananas are good." The Doctor replied.

"Were you going to shoot that kid?" Stella asked looking to Jack, her eyes narrowed.

"No…" Jack drew out edging away from her knowing Stella's thoughts on the matter.

"Jack! He is a child." Stella snapped.

"He was going to attack us!" Jack defended himself.

"He doesn't know what he's doing!" Stella reprimanded him.

"But…" Their fight was interrupted by the wall with the child on the other side starting to crack as he beat against it.

"Doctor!" Rose called out.

"Come on!" The Doctor ordered grabbing Rose's hand while Stella grabbed Jacks as they ran, but the patients are coming at them from the other direction.

Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.

"It's keeping us here till it can get at us." Stella said.

"It's controlling them?" Jack asked.

"It is them. It's every living thing in this hospital." The Doctor replied.

"Okay." Jack said pulling out his blaster. "This can function as a sonic blaster, a sonic cannon, and as a triple-enfolded sonic disrupter. Stella, what you got?"

"My charm and good looks." Stella replied as she dropped into a defensive stance. "You know I de-weaponized myself centuries ago."

"Great, well at least you have hand to hand experience, what about you Doc?" Jack asked.

"I've got a sonic, er…oh, never mind." The Doctor said looking down at his screwdriver.

"What?" Jack asked.

"It's sonic, okay? Let's leave it at that." The Doctor replied.

"Disrupter? Cannon? What?" Jack pressed.

"It's sonic! Totally sonic! I am soniced up!" The Doctor said still avoiding the question.

"A sonic what?!" Jack demanded.

"Screwdriver!" The Doctor finally exploded just as the child breaks through the wall. Rose grabs Jack's blaster and points it at the floor.

"Going down!" Rose said as she fired.

-0-

They fell through the new hole and landed in an undignified heap on the floor groaning in pain.

"Who's ever hand that is better remove it or I will remove it from them." Stella said in a monotone voice.

"Oops, sorry." Jack said removing his hand from where it 'accidently' found its way to her upper thigh as he stood up and repaired the hole in the ceiling.

"I'll bet." Stella shot him a knowing look which he replied to with a grin and a wink making her roll her eyes trying to hide her amused smile. "Dork."

"So you're not mad at me anymore?" Jack asked as he walked over wrapping his arms around her and laying his chin on her shoulder giving her his best puppy dog look.

"No, just try not to do anything stupid like this again." Stella said as she ruffled his hair.

"Doctor, are you okay?" Rose asked as they dusted themselves off.

"Could've used a warning." The Doctor replied.

"Oh, the gratitude." Rose said sarcastically.

"Ignore him, you were awesome." Stella clapped her on the back.

"Thanks." Rose smiled.

"Who has a sonic screwdriver?" Jack asked.

"I do." The Doctor replied.

"Lights." Stella said motioning for Rose to help her look for a switch.

"Who looks at a screwdriver and thinks, ooo, this could be a little more sonic?" Jack said sarcastically.

"What, you've never been bored?" The Doctor replied.

"There's got to be a light switch." Rose said as she and Stella still searched the walls for it.

"Never had a long night? Never had a lot of cabinets to put up?" The Doctor continued to defend himself.

Finally Rose found the switch and turned it on.

Patients sit up in their beds.

Mummy. Mummy.

"Door." Jack called out trying to use his blaster, but it doesn't work. "Damn it!"

Mummy.

"It's the special features. They really drain the battery." Jack said as they started to run.

"The battery?" Rose deadpanned. They came up to a storeroom and the screwdriver gets them in. "That's so lame!"

"I was going to send for another one, but somebody's got to blow up the factory." Jack replied.

"Oh, I know. First day I met him, he blew my job up. That's practically how he communicates." Rose sympathized. "Day we first met Stella the Earth blew up."

"Okay, that door should hold it for a bit." The Doctor said.

"The door? The wall didn't stop it!" Jack snapped.

"Well, it's got to find us first! Come on, we're not done yet! Assets, assets!" the Doctor said.

"Well, I've got a banana, and in a pinch you could put up some shelves." Jack said sarcastically.

"Window." The Doctor said.

"Barred. Sheer drop outside." Jack said as he plopped down into a wheel chair. "Seven stories."

"And no other exits." Rose said.

"Well, the assets conversation went in a flash, didn't it?" Jack said sarcastically.

"So, where'd you pick this one up, then?" The Doctor said glaring at Jack.

"Doctor." Rose said in an uncomfortable voice.

"She was hanging from a barrage balloon, I had an invisible spaceship. I never stood a chance." Jack answered for her with a smirk at the Doctor.

"That's enough out of both of you; we are in a situation here and need a plan that doesn't involve bickering like a pair of old women." Stella finally snapped.

"Okay. One, we've got to get out of here. Two, we can't get out of here." The Doctor said sarcastically. "Have I missed anything?"

"Yeah. Jack just disappeared." Rose said causing the Doctor and Stella to whip around.

"He had an emergency teleport." Stella said with a sigh. "Should have known really."

"Okay, so he's vanished into thin air. Why is it always the great looking ones who do that?" Rose lamented.

"I'm making an effort not to be insulted." The Doctor said peering down at her from the window.

"I mean, men." Rose tried to back pedal.

"Okay, thanks, that really helped." The Doctor said sarcastically as he shot Stella a look as she laughed.

"If it makes you feel better I think you are an extraordinarily handsome man." Stella said with a wink causing the Doctor's ears to turn pink. Suddenly the radio crackled into life.

"Rose? Stella? Doctor? Can you hear me? I'm back on my ship. Used the emergency teleport. Sorry I couldn't take you. It's security-keyed to my molecular structure. I'm working on it. Hang in there." Jack called through a radio.

"First of all, you jerk." Stella deadpanned. "Secondly, how're you speaking to us?"

"Om-Com. I can call anything with a speaker grill." Jack said.

"Now there's a coincidence." The Doctor said.

"What is?" Jack asked.

"The child, can Om-Com, too." The Doctor said.

"He can?" Rose asked.

"Anything with a speaker grill, even the Tardis phone which seemed like a big deal to the Doctor." Stella answered crossing her arms in thought.

"What, you mean the child can phone us?" Rose asked.

'And I can hear you. Coming to find you. Coming to find you.'

"Doctor, can you hear that?" Jack asked.

"Loud and clear." The Doctor replied.

"I'll try to block out the signal. Least I can do." Jack said.

'Coming to find you, mummy.'

"Remember this one, Rose?" Jack asked as music started to play over the radio.

"Our song." Rose said smiling, swaying a bit to the music.

"Moonlight Serenade." Stella commented with a nod. "He's a colossal pain in the back end, but he's a good guy deep down."

-0-

A little later, Rose was relaxing in a wheelchair while the Doctor is at the barred window with the ever-versatile sonic screwdriver and Stella was softly swaying to the music as she hummed along.

"What you doing?" Rose asked the Doctor.

"Trying to set up a resonation pattern in the concrete, loosen the bars." The Doctor answered.

"You don't think he's coming back, do you?" Rose asked as she watched him.

"Wouldn't bet my life." The Doctor replied.

"He'll come." Stella assured him not pausing in her swaying that was starting to turn into simple dance moves.

"Why don't you trust him?" Rose asked.

"Why do you?" The Doctor asked back. "I mean I can understand Stella, she knows him, but you…why?"

"He saved my life. Bloke-wise, that's up there with flossing." Rose joked with a shrug. "I trust him because he's like you, except with dating and dancing." Rose said then noticed the look the Doctor sent her. "What?"

"You just assume I'm…" The Doctor trailed off.

"What?" Rose asked.

"You just assume that I don't dance." The Doctor said.

"What, are you telling me you do dance?" Rose said with a smile.

"Rose, he's centuries old. I think you can assume at some point he's danced." Stella said as she waltzed over to the radio.

"Him?" Rose said then turned back to the Doctor. "You?"

"Problem?" The Doctor asked.

"Doesn't the universe implode or something if you dance?" Rose joked.

"Well, I've got the moves but I wouldn't want to boast." The Doctor said focusing back on the window. Stella turned up the volume on the radio which was still playing Moonlight Serenade and nods her head toward the Doctor then smiles at Rose.

"You've got the moves? Show me your moves." Rose said as she offered her hand.

"Rose, I'm trying to resonate concrete." The Doctor replied.

"Excuses, excuses." Stella scoffed.

"Jack'll be back. He'll get us out. So come on. The world doesn't end because the Doctor dances." Rose holds out her hands, and the Doctor looks at her palms.

"Barrage balloon?" The Doctor said as he stepped over to Rose and took her hands in his.

"What?" Rose shook her head, lost.

"You were hanging from a barrage balloon…" The Doctor said.

"Oh...yeah. About two minutes after you left me. Thousands of feet above London, middle of a German air raid, Union Jack all over my chest..." Rose said.

"I've travelled with a lot of people, but you're setting new records for jeopardy-friendly." The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Is this you dancing?" Rose asked as he turned back to her hands "'Cos I've got notes."

"You're not the only one, but he's on to something." Stella said walking over to them and looking at her hands as well. "Hanging from a rope a thousand feet above London, not a cut, not a bruise. Your hands should be covered in rope burns."

"Yeah, I know. Captain Jack fixed me up..." Rose said.

"Oh, we're calling him 'Captain Jack' now, are we?" The Doctor said. Stella shook her head as she walked over and sat down next to Jack.

"How long do you think before the notice?" Jack asked her quietly as he laid one of his arms around her shoulders.

"Just a little longer." Stella said as she leaned on Jack's shoulder with an amused smile.

"Well, his name's Jack and he's a captain..." Rose said.

"He's not really a captain, Rose." The Doctor said back.

"D'you know what I think? I think you're experiencing Captain Envy." Rose commented. The Doctor just looked at her hands not really paying attention. Rose rolled her eyes and moved to get him into a dancing position. "You'll find your feet at the end of your legs. You may care to move them."

"If ever he was a captain, he's been defrocked." The Doctor continued, standing still.

"Yeah?" Rose smiled, growing annoyed at his lack of dancing. "Shame I missed that."

"Actually, I quit." Jack said. "Nobody takes my frock."

"Most people notice when they've been teleported." Stella commented before she and Jack started to laugh as the two sprang apart.

"You guys are so sweet." Jack added with a wide grin. "Sorry about the delay. I had to take the nav-com offline to override the teleport security."

"You can spend ten minutes overriding your own protocols? Maybe you should remember whose ship it is." The Doctor said.

"Oh, I do. She was gorgeous. Like I told her, be back in five minutes." Jack replied.

"This is a Chula ship." Stella said looking around after smacking Jack upside his head.

"Ow!" Jack whined.

"You will be going back and apologizing to that girl." Stella said sternly.

"Yes mom." Jack said sarcastically as he rubbed the back of his head. "And yeah, just like that medical transporter. Only this one is dangerous."

The Doctor snapped his fingers and the golden glow envelopes his hands.

"They're what fixed my hands up Jack called them er…" Rose trailed off having forgotten.

"Nanobots? Nanogenes." Stella said.

"Nanogenes, yeah." Rose said with a nod.

"Sub-atomic robots. There's millions of them in here, see? Burned my hand on the console when we landed. All better now. They activate when the bulk head's sealed. Check you out for damage, fix any physical flaws." The Doctor said then looked up at Jack. "Take us to the crash site. I need to see your space junk."

"As soon as I get the nav-com back online. Make yourself comfortable. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing." Jack said causing both of them to blush.

"We were talking about dancing." The Doctor defended himself.

"It didn't look like talking." Jack commented.

"It didn't feel like dancing." Rose commented.

-0-

"So, you used to be a Time Agent now you're trying to con them?" Rose asked as she watched Stella help Jack with his Nav.

"If it makes him sound any better, it's not for the money." Stella said to Rose.

"For what then?" Rose asked.

"Woke up one day when I was still working for them, found they'd stolen two years of my memories. I'd like them back." Jack replied. "Stella's been helping me do just that."

"They stole your memories?" Rose asked.

"Two years of my life. No idea what I did. Your friend over there doesn't trust me, and for all I know he's right not to." Jack said and it was easy to see that he was kind of worried.

"Got it." Stella said as she finished connecting the final wire.

"Okay, we're good to go. Crash site?" Jack said and they took off. In no time they were stealthily running down an alleyway close to the site. "There it is. Hey, they've got Algy on duty. It must be important."

"We've got to get past him." Stella said looking around.

"Are the words distract the guard heading in my general direction?" Rose said as she started to stand up.

"I don't think that'd be such a good idea." Jack said pulling her back down.

"Don't worry I can handle it." Rose said with a confident smile.

"I've got to know Algy quite well since I've been in town. Trust me, you're not his type. I'll distract him. Don't wait up." Jack said with a wink as Rose watched him go her mouth hanging open.

"Mouth shut, you'll catch flies if you're not careful." Stella said closing Rose's mouth as she laughed.

"Relax, he's a fifty first century guy. He's just a bit more flexible when it comes to dancing." The Doctor said also enjoying Rose's discomfort.

"How flexible?" Rose asked.

"Well, by his time, you lot have spread out across half the galaxy." The Doctor said.

"Meaning?" Rose prompted.

"How do I put this tastefully?" Stella said pretending to ponder for a moment. "I know, so many species, so little time.

"What, that's what we do when we get out there?" Rose said in shock. "That's our mission? We seek new life, and, and…"

"Dance." The Doctor supplied.

"Hey, tiger. How's it hanging?" Jack said as he walked up and patted Algy on the back.

"Mummy?" Algy said uncertainly

"Algy, old sport, it's me." Jack reasoned as he started to back away.

"Mummy?" Algy said again.

"It's me, Jack." Jack said really starting to get nervous.

"Jack? Are you my mummy?" Algy starts to retch, then falls to his knees before his face turns into a gas mask. Rose, Stella, and the Doctor run forward from the sidelines.

"Stay back!" The Doctor yelled as they ran over.

"You men, stay away!" Jack ordered.

"The effect's become air-borne, accelerating." Stella said running her hand through her hair. The air raid sirens start up.

"What's keeping us safe?" Rose asked worriedly.

"Nothing." The Doctor said grimly as the sirens sounded once more.

"Ah, here they come again." Jack said looking up into the sky.

"All we need." Rose said then seemed to realize something. "Didn't you say a bomb was going to land here?"

"Never mind about that. If the contaminants airborne now, there's hours left." The Doctor said.

"For what?" Jack asked.

"Till nothing, forever, for the entire human race." The Doctor said ominously.

"Can anyone else hear singing?" Stella asked breaking the tense mood. The Doctor and Stella started to follow the sound until they reached a large tent.

'Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops.' Jenkins is fully transformed and slumped across the table.

'When the wind blows, the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all.'

The Doctor and Stella enter and gestures to her to keep singing, but her voice is hoarse and started to crack causing Jenkins to stir and waked up.

'Rock-a-bye baby, on the tree tops. When the wind blows the cradle will rock. When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. Down will come baby, cradle and all.'

Stella started to sing softly with pleasantly gentle voice as the Doctor freed Nancy from the handcuffs with his sonic. Jack and Rose appeared in the doorway, watching as the handcuff snapped open and listening to Stella sing. Nancy stood up and they all left the shed, Jenkins still asleep.

"I love it when you sing." Jack said wrapping his arm around her shoulders as they walked quickly back to the bombsite.

"I know." Stella replied with a large smile wrapping her arm around his waist. She took great pride in her musical abilities; besides her technological skills and dancing it was all she was really good at, her artistic abilities as well as cooking left quiet a lot to be desired.

"Are you two together?" Rose asked suddenly making Jack and Stella glance at each other.

"No, more like family than anything else." Jack shrugged. "Tried it out for a time, just didn't click."

"We really were better off friends than in a relationship. Why you interested?" Stella asked with a smirk making Rose blush.

"Please, it's me, everyone is always interested." Jack preened.

"Which is why I spend more than half of my time getting you out of trouble." Stella deadpanned.

"True." Jack shrugged.

Once they got to the bomb site the Doctor and Jack pulling the tarp off it to reveal the Chula med-ship as Nancy, Rose, and Stella watched.

"You see? Just an ambulance." Jack said.

"That's an ambulance?" Nancy asked looking over the space ship.

"It's hard to explain. It's from another world." Rose said to Nancy.

"They've been trying to get in." Stella said as she looked over some scorch marks.

"Of course they have. They think they've got their hands on Hitler's latest secret weapon." The Doctor said then noticed Jack typing at a small key pad. "What're you doing?"

"The sooner you see this thing is empty, the sooner you'll know I had nothing to do with it." Jack said then bang! Sparks, and an alarm. The access panel has a red flashing light. "Didn't happen last time."

"It hadn't crashed last time genius." Stella said as she looked over the keypad and shook her head up at the Doctor. "There'll be emergency protocols."

"Doctor, what is that?" Rose asked the Doctor. The patients start battering at the hospital doors. "Doctor!"

"Captain, secure those gates!" The Doctor ordered.

"Why?" Jack asked.

"So they don't get us." Stella snapped.

"Just do it!" The Doctor snapped and Jack ran off as told. "Nancy, how'd you get in here?"

"I cut the wire." Nancy said.

"Show Rose. Setting two thousand four hundred and twenty eight D." The Doctor throws Rose the sonic screwdriver.

"What?" Rose said in confusion

"Reattaches barbed wire. Go!" The Doctor said sending them off.

"What are we going to do?" Stella asked the Doctor.

"Help me get this open." The Doctor said and they got to work on the ambulance. Soon Jack came back and together they finally got the ambulance open.

"It's empty. Look at it." Jack said gesturing to the empty cavern in the ship as Rose and Nancy also returned.

"What do you expect in a Chula medical transporter? Bandages? Cough drops? Rose?" The Doctor said.

"I don't know." Rose replied.

"Yes, you do." Stella said holding her hands up and wiggling her fingers.

"Nanogenes!" Rose realized.

"It wasn't empty, Captain." The Doctor said. "There were enough nanogenes in there to rebuild a species."

"Oh, God." Jack said in realization.

"Getting it now, are we? When the ship crashes, the nanogenes escape. Billions upon billions of them, ready to fix all the cuts and bruises in the whole world. But what they find first is a dead child, probably killed earlier that night, and wearing a gasmask…" Stella said glaring at Jack who looked completely chastised.

"And they brought him back to life? They can do that?" Rose said in amazement.

"What's life? Life's easy. A quirk of matter. Nature's way of keeping meat fresh. Nothing to a nanogene. One problem, though. These nanogenes, they're not like the ones on your ship. This lot have never seen a human being before. Don't know what a human being's supposed to look like. All they've got to go on is one little body, and there's not a lot left." The Doctor said also angry.

"But they carry right on. They do what they're programmed to do. They patch it up. Can't tell what's gasmask and what's skull, but they do their best. Then off they fly, off they go, work to be done. Because, you see, now they think they know what people should look like, and it's time to fix all the rest." Stella said as she started to rub her head on either side.

"And they won't ever stop. They won't ever, ever stop. The entire human race is going to be torn down and rebuilt in the form of one terrified child looking for its mother, and nothing in the world can stop it!" The Doctor finished.

"I didn't know." Jack said shaking his head. The Doctor ignored him and worked on the ambulance while the patients approach with Stella's help.

"Next time Jack, tell me what you're going to do before you do it so I can tell you how stupid your idea is." Stella said in exasperation before looking to the Doctor. "Kids, what are you going to do?"

Mummy. Mummy.

"Rose!" Nancy called out.

"It's bringing the gas mask people here, isn't it?" Rose asked.

"The ship thinks it's under attack. It's calling up the troops. Standard protocol." Stella replied.

"But the gas mask people aren't troops." Rose said.

"They are now. This is a battle-field ambulance. The nanogenes don't just fix you up, they get you ready for the front line. Equip you, program you." Stella said picking at some wires.

"That's why the child's so strong. Why it could do that phoning thing." Rose said.

"It's a fully equipped Chula warrior, yes." The Doctor said. "All that weapons tech in the hands of a hysterical four year old looking for his mummy."

"And now there's an army of them." Stella said looking at the patients surrounding them, outside the barbed wire.

"Why don't they attack?" Jack asked.

"Good little soldiers, waiting for their commander." The Doctor replied.

"The child?" Jack asked.

"Jamie." Nancy said.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Not the child. Jamie." Nancy replied.

"So how long until the bomb falls?" Rose asked.

"Any second." Jack said nervously.

"What's the matter, Captain?" The Doctor asked seeing his nervousness. "A bit close to the volcano for you?"

"He's just a little boy." Nancy said.

"I know." Stella said gently.

"He's just a little boy who wants his mummy." Nancy said.

"I know. There isn't a little boy born who wouldn't tear the world apart to save his mummy. And this little boy can." The Doctor said.

"So what're we going to do?" Rose asked.

"I don't know." The Doctor said shaking his head.

"It's my fault." Nancy said.

"No." The Doctor said shaking his head.

"It is. It's all my fault." Nancy pressed.

"How can it be your…" The Doctor started, but Stella took hold of his arm stopping him.

Mummy. Mummy. Mummy. Mummy.

"Nancy, what age are you? Twenty? Twenty one? Older than you look I'll bet?" Stella said gently as the bombs get closer.

"Doctor, that bomb. We've got seconds." Jack said.

"You can teleport us out." Rose said to Jack.

"Not you guys. The nav-com's back online. Going to take too long to override the protocols." Jack replied.

"So it's volcano day." The Doctor said. "Do what you've got to do."

"Jack?" Rose said looking at him hopefully as Stella doesn't even look at him her eyes trained on Nancy. Jack gives Rose an apologetic look and vanishes leaving behind a crest fallen Rose.

"How old were you five years ago? Fifteen? Sixteen? Old enough to give birth, anyway. He's not your brother, is he? A teenage single mother in 1941. So you hid. You lied. You even lied to him." Stella said softly as she walked up to Nancy.

The bomb site gate opens and Jamie stands there.

Are you my mummy?

"He's going to keep asking, Nancy. He's never going to stop." Stella said placing her hands on the girls shoulders comfortingly.

Mummy?

"Tell him. Nancy, the future of the human race is in your hands." Stella said squeezed her shoulders. "Trust me and tell him."

Stella smiled encouragingly before Nancy and Jamie walk towards each other.

Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy? Are you my mummy?

"Yes. Yes, I am your mummy." Nancy said.

Mummy?

"I'm here." Nancy replied.

Are you my mummy?

"I'm here." Nancy said.

Are you my mummy?

"Yes." Nancy said her voice rising.

Are you my mummy?

"He doesn't understand. There's not enough of him left." The Doctor said morosely.

"I am your mummy. I will always be your mummy. I'm so sorry. I am so, so sorry." Nancy hugs Jamie and a cloud of nanogenes surround them.

"What's happening? Doctor, it's changing her, we should…" Rose said.

"Shush! Come on, please. Come on, you clever little nanogenes. Figure it out!" The Doctor pleaded. "The mother, she's the mother. It's got to be enough information. Figure it out."

"What's happening?" Rose asked.

"See? Recognizing the same DNA." Stella said as she gripped her hands together. Jamie lets go and Nancy falls on the ground. They rush over to them and the Doctor kneeled in front of Jamie as Stella helped Nancy up.

"Oh, come on. Give me a day like this. Give me this one." The Doctor removes Jamie's gas mask then picks him up and lifts him into the air. "Ha-ha! Welcome back! Twenty years till pop music - you're going to love it."

"What happened?" Nancy asked.

"The nanogenes recognized the superior information, the parent DNA." Stella said as she too picked Jamie up and spun him around hugging him close pressing a big kiss to his cheek.

"They didn't change you because you changed them! Ha-ha! Mother knows best!" The Doctor smiled.

"Oh, Jamie." Nancy said hugging him close.

"Doctor, that bomb." Rose said.

"Taken care of it." The Doctor said.

"How?" Rose asked as Stella and the Doctor shared a look.

"Psychology." Stella replied. The bomb hurtles towards them, and gets caught in Jack's light beam just before impact. Jack is sitting astride the bomb. "Plus Jack would never abandon me for real."

"Stella! Doctor!" Jack called out with a large smile.

"Good lad!" The Doctor yelled up at him.

"That's my hero." Stella said making Jack actually blush.

"The bomb's already commenced detonation. I've put it in stasis but it won't last long." Jack told them.

"Change of plan. Don't need the bomb." The Doctor said.

"Can you get rid of it, safely as you can?" Stella asked, but Jack's look made her heart plummet.

"Rose?" Jack called down.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Goodbye." Jack said. "And Stella, it's been great." Jack and the bomb vanish then reappear. "By the way, love the tee-shirt Rose."

Jack vanishes again and his spaceship sucks up the light beam and flies off. The Doctor summons some nanogenes to himself.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked.

"Software patch. Going to email the upgrade. You want moves, Rose? I'll give you moves." The Doctor said with a happy grin as he throws the nanogenes to the waiting patients, who fall to the ground. "Everybody lives, Rose. Just this once, everybody lives!"

The patients stand up again, back to normal. Constantine is amongst the group of the restored looking around in confusion. The Doctor and Rose walk up to him.

"Doctor Constantine. Who never left his patients, back on your feet, constant doctor." The Doctor said. "The world doesn't want to get by without you just yet, and I don't blame it one bit. These are your patients. All better now."

"Yes, yes, so it seems. They also seem to be standing around in a disused railway station. Is there any particular reason for that?" Constantine asked looking around.

"Yeah, well, you know, cutbacks." The Doctor said with a shrug. "Listen, whatever was wrong with them in the past, you're probably going to find that they're cured. Just tell them what a great doctor you are. Don't make a big thing of it. Okay?"

The Doctor pats him on the shoulder and walks away with Rose as an old woman hobbles up.

"Doctor Constantine." The old woman addressed him.

"Mrs. Harcourt. How much better you're looking." Constantine commented.

"My leg's grown back. When I come to the hospital, I had one leg." Harcourt said in amazement as she gestured to her new leg. Constantine thought for a moment looking down at the leg.

"Well, there is a war on. Is it possible you miscounted?" Constantine suggested.

"Right, you lot. Lots to do. Beat the Germans, save the world. Don't forget the welfare state!" The Doctor called out as they made their way back to the ambulance where Stella was typing away at the keybpad.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked her.

"Setting this to self-destruct, soon as everybody's clear." Stella said simply not looking up at them, hiding the tears that were gathering in her eyes, though she couldn't stop the sniffle. "History says there was an explosion here."

"And who are we to argue with history?" The Doctor said in a chipper voice.

"Usually the first in line." Rose commented as Stella finished up and they walked away, the explosion going off as soon as everyone was a safe distance away.

"The nanogenes will clean up the mess and switch themselves off, because I just told them to. Nancy and Jamie will go to Doctor Constantine for help, ditto. All in all, all things considered, fantastic!" The Doctor said as he practically skipped along Stella following them at a distance, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes downcast, the odd sniffle escaping her from time to time.

"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas." Rose commented happily.

"Who says I'm not, red bicycle when you were twelve?" The Doctor said.

"What?" Rose said in surprise.

"And everybody lives, Rose! Everybody lives!" The Doctor said triumphantly. "I need more days like this."

"Doctor." Rose said with a small frown looking to Stella who was staring up at the sky with tears streaming down her face.

"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire." The Doctor said in excitement.

"What about Jack? Why'd he say goodbye?" Rose asked causing the Doctor's grin to fade.

"Because he's sacrificing himself to save us." Stella said hoarsely, gritting her teeth as the tears really started to flow. Rose rushed over to her pulling her into a hug as she cried looking to the Doctor, a grim look on his face.

-0-

"Okay, computer, how long can we keep the bomb in stasis?" Jack asked his computer as he sat in the piloting chair of his ship, the bomb held in a glowing blue light.

Stasis decaying at ninety percent cycle. Detonation in three minutes.

"Can we jettison it?" Jack asked.

Any attempt to jettison the device will precipitate detonation. One hundred percent probability.

"We could stick it in an escape pod." Jack suggested.

There is no escape pod on board.

"I see the flaw in that. I'll get in the escape pod." Jack said.

There is no escape pod on board.

"Did you check everywhere?" Jack asked.

Affirmative.

"Under the sink?" Jack said in frustration.

Affirmative.

"Okay. Out of one hundred, exactly how dead am I?" Jack asked in a calmer voice.

Termination of Captain Jack Harkness in under two minutes. One hundred percent probability.

"Lovely. Thanks. Good to know the numbers." Jack said sarcastically.

You're welcome.

"Okay then. Think we'd better initiate emergency protocol four one seven." Jack said sternly

Affirmative.

A martini appears in front of Jack who picks it up and takes a sip.

"Oo, a little too much vermouth. See if I come here again." Jack said as he leaned back in his chair. "Funny thing. Last time I was sentenced to death, I ordered four hyper-vodkas for my breakfast. All a bit of a blur after that. Woke up in bed with both my executioners." Jack reminisced. "Mmm, lovely couple. They stayed in touch. Can't say that about most executioners. Anyway. Thanks for everything, computer. It's been great."

Moonlight Serenade plays.

Jack looked down the spaceship and through the open doors into the Tardis, where the Doctor and Rose are dancing awkwardly as Stella tries to give the Doctor pointers.

"Well, hurry up then!" Rose called out.

"Yeah, I need a dance partner." Stella said motioning him in. Jack runs in without a second thought and is met by Stella's hug. "I'm glad you're ok."

"Me to." Jack smiled as they both looked to the Doctor and Rose.

"Okay. And right and turn. Okay, okay, try and spin me again, but this time don't get my arm up my back. No extra points for a half-nelson." Rose told the Doctor.

"I'm sure I used to know this stuff." The Doctor said as he tried to get the moves right. "Close the door, will you? Your ship's about to blow up. There's going to be a draught."

Jack shuts the door and turns back to the TARDIS console room.

"Welcome to the Tardis." Stella said cheerfully. "Isn't it amazing?"

"Much bigger on the inside." Jack commented.

"You'd better be." The Doctor said giving Jack a stern look.

"I think what the Doctor's trying to say is you may cut in." Rose said to Jack.

"Rose! I've just remembered!" The Doctor called out with a smile.

"What?" Rose asked as the music changes from waltz to swing - Glenn Miller's In the Mood.

"I can dance! I can dance!" The Doctor said as he started to swing dance.

"Wow, you really can dance." Stella said in mild surprise.

"How about a spin Rose?" The Doctor asked dancing up to her.

"Actually, Doctor, I thought Jack might like this dance." Rose said playfully, but the Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her into the dance.

"I'm sure he would, Rose. I'm absolutely certain. But who with?" The Doctor said dancing round the room with Rose.

"With Stella of course." Jack said taking Stella's hand joining the Doctor and Rose as they all danced.

"Think you can keep up with me?" Stella asked as she started to perform some intricate moves.

"Just watch me." Jack replied as he matched her moves.

Jack and Stella laughed as the Doctor dipped Rose who smiles brightly up at him loving every moment of their dance. Suddenly Stella manipulator buzzed causing her to pull away from Jack.

"Oh, that's me." Stella said as she pressed a few buttons. "Oh, I am needed elsewhere, could you land so I can take my manipulator?"

"Sure." The Doctor nodded moving about the console.

"Where are you off to?" Jack asked.

"The Princess of Dragoon Nine is missing and I've been asked to aid in the investigation." Stella replied with a shrug. "Shouldn't be too hard."

"Are you sure you can't stay on for a bit?" Rose asked as they stepped out of the TARDIS.

"I really wish I could, but I have obligations and all that other boring stuff." Stella said with a sigh before hugging Rose. "Take good care of the guys ok?"

"Of course." Rose nodded.

"Hey, I can take care of myself." Jack scoffed.

"No you can't." Stella replied before she hugged him as well. "Doctor, try not to let him get on your nerves too much."

"Will do." He nodded as they hugged as well and then she stepped back waving to them all.

"Catch you guys later." Stella winked before she activated her manipulator and was zapped away. The Doctor, Jack, and Rose filed back into the TARDIS Rose going to her room for some sleep.

"How much do you know about Stella Jack?" The Doctor asked as he typed looking up at the screen hanging above the console.

"Good mechanic, dancer, and musician, her cooking and artistic skills leaves a lot to be desired though. She's a good fighter when pressed into it, but would rather find a way to talk it out, just general stuff really." Jack shrugged. "We never really go into the in depth stuff, why?"

"No reason, just wondering." The Doctor smiled.

"Yeah, right. Let me guess, you tried to look her up, but didn't find anything and what you did find seems to be in constant flux, plus you can't find her ending." Jack said as he leaned against the console. "I know, she's the unpredictable girl. No one knows where she's going or where she's come from save one person that no one knows. She'll tell you her life story, but tell you nothing at the same time." Jack clapped the Doctor on the shoulder. "You can look all you want, but you more than likely won't find anything concrete on her, at least nothing useful."

The Doctor nodded absent mindedly as he continued to stare at the screen watching Stella's past and blank future, but not because it was unwritten, but because it was being hidden from him.


	4. Chapter 4

Stella walked up into the hospital a bouquet of red roses in hand. She wore a purple draped sweater dress, black tights, and a pair of calf high flat black lace up boots. Her wavy light and dark brown hair was hanging free and her cybertronic lines glowed softly along her visible skin. After passing the front desk she walked over to the lift and stepped inside.

"Ward 26 please." Stella said and right before the lift closed a man with messy brown hair and large brown eyes wearing a suit and trench coat stepped in.

"Ward 26, thanks!" The Doctor said.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Someone called out that sounded very familiar to Stella.

"Oh, too late. I'm going up." The Doctor said as the doors closed.

"It's all right, there's another lift." Rose said loudly.

"Ward 26 and watch out for the disinfectant." The Doctor called out.

"Watch out for what?" Rose asked.

"The disinfectant!" The Doctor said louder.

"The what?" Rose asked louder.

"The disin… Oh, you'll find out." The Doctor gave up then turned to the sound of giggling behind him his eyebrows shooting up when he spotted Stella.

"Hello." Stella said cheerfully with a smile.

"Uh…hello?" The Doctor said wide eyed.

'Please deposit gifts in storage box.'

Stella placed the roses into the box that was then closed and slid back into the wall.

'Commence stage one disinfection.'

The Doctor and Stella got drenched by a spray from the ceiling. Stella scrubbed her head under the spray as the Doctor did the same to his own head then the next stage, a blow dry, started up leaving them clean and dry once it was all over.

"That was nice, I've never showered with a guy before." Stella smirked at the Doctor who winked back with a small smirk of his own.

"Glad I could help." He said cheekily.

"Charmer." Stella smiled, fixing her hair before grabbing her roses just as the doors opened allowing herself and the Doctor to step out where they were met by a veiled nurse and escorted down the hall to ward 26.

"Nice place. No shop, downstairs. I'd have a shop. Not a big one. Just a shop, so people can shop." The Doctor said and Stella was reduced to giggles once again.

"The hospital is a place of healing." Jatt said as she removed her veil.

"A shop does some people the world of good. Not me." The Doctor rattled on glancing at Stella out of the corner of his eye. "Other people."

"The Sisters of Plentitude take a lifelong vow to help, and to mend." Jatt said as they passed an open cubicle.

"I better get going, nice showering you." Stella said as she walked away.

"You as well." He replied with a toothy grin.

She could hear Jatt and the Doctor interacting with Clovis and the Duke of Manahattan, but she had been read the right act by Clovis and had no desire to live through it again. She walked to the Face of Boe in a container by the picture window with a view of the city.

"How is he doing?" Stella asked softly.

"As well as can be expected, he is merely resting right now." Novice Hame said as Stella placed the roses on a nearby table where Boe would see them when he awoke.

"Thank you Novice Hame, for taking such good care of him." Stella said as she kneeled down in front of Boe placing her hand against the glass.

"I do not mean to intrude upon your visit Miss Quinn, but this man has come to visit the Face of Boe as well." Jatt said to Stella as she stood back up facing the man from earlier.

"Of course, it's no trouble at all." Stella smiled.

"Novice Hame, if I can leave this gentleman in your care?" Jatt said.

"Oh, I think my friend got lost. Rose Tyler." The Doctor said and Stella looked at him wide eyed. "Could you ask at reception?"

"Certainly, sir." Jatt replied before she left. Stella walked up to the Doctor looking straight into his eyes making his lean back as she leaned forward.

"Doctor?" Stella said hesitantly.

"Hello Stella." He smiled then they both hugged tightly laughing.

"How have you been? How's Rose? What happened to you?" Stella asked rapidly and the Doctor explained everything that had happened to him and Rose. "Oh wow, you regenerated, so you traded the…" She mimed large ears and a large nose. "For…" She mimed large hair as the Doctor rolled his eyes. "You know."

"My ears were not that big." He grumbled and Stella placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yes, yes they were." Stella smiled. "So you came to see Boe huh?"

"Yeah I got this on my Psychic paper." He showed her the message.

"I received his message two days ago on my manipulator and have been coming every day since, but he won't tell me why, told me to wait. Guess he wanted me to wait for you." Stella said looking in concern at Boe. "I'm afraid Boe's asleep right now though. That's all he seems to do these days."

"Are you a friend the Face of Boe as well, or…" Novice Hame spoke up.

"We met just the once on Platform One. What's wrong with him?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm so sorry. I thought you knew. The Face of Boe is dying." Novice Hame said as Stella closed her eyes biting her lip.

"Of what?" The Doctor asked.

"Old age. The one thing we can't cure. He's thousands of years old." Novice Hame explained. "Some people say millions, although that's impossible."

"Oh, I don't know. I like impossible. I'm here. I look a bit different, but it's me, It's the Doctor." The Doctor said he kneeled in front of Boe.

-0-

'Hope, harmony and health. Hope, harmony and health.'

The Doctor brought Hame and Stella a cup of water each.

"Thank you." Stella said nursing the drink between her hands still starring in concern at Boe.

"That's very kind. There's no need." Hame said as she accepted the water.

"You're the one working." The Doctor said.

"There's not much to do, just maintain his smoke. And I suppose I'm company." Hame said with a small smile. "I can hear him singing, sometimes, in my mind. Such ancient songs."

"Am I the only visitor besides Stella?" The Doctor asked

"The rest of Boe-kind became extinct long ago. He's the only one left. Legend says that the Face of Boe has watched the universe grow old." Hame said with a sigh.

"There's all sorts of superstitions around him." Stella said with a laugh. "Sometimes I don't know what's true and what's not with him not that he helps differentiate between the two."

"One story says that just before his death, the Face of Boe will impart his great secret, that he will speak those words only to one like himself." Hame told them.

"What does that mean?" The Doctor asked.

"It's just a story." Stella said.

"Tell me the rest." The Doctor urged reaching out and taking one pf her hands in his.

"It's said he'll talk to a wanderer." Stella told him gripping his hand thankfully. "To the one without a home, the lonely God." Stella sighed then looked thoughtful. "Didn't you say Rose was with you?"

"Yeah, wonder where she is." The Doctor said grabbed a phone and dialed. "Rose, where are you?"

"Er, wotcha." 'Rose' said after a small hesitation.

"Where've you been? How long does it take to get to Ward 26?" The Doctor questioned.

"I'm on my way, governor." 'Rose' answered. "I shall proceed up the apples and pears."

"You'll never guess. I'm with the Face of Boe and Stella." The Doctor said. "Remember them?"

"Of course I do." 'Rose' said. "That big old boat race and the robot woman."

"I'd better go. See you in a minute." The Doctor hung up.

"You find her?" Stella asked walking up to him.

"Yep, she's on her way." The Doctor nodded as they come upon the Duke of Manhattan who was very happy.

"Didn't think I was going to make it." The Duke smiled then pointed to the Doctor. "It's that man again! He's my good luck charm. Come in. Don't be shy. You and your lady friend, come closer."

"Any friendship expressed by the Duke of Manhattan does not constitute a form of legal contract." Clovis said sternly.

"Winch me up. Up! Look at me. No sign of infection." The Duke said happily.

"Champagne, sir? Ma'am?" A waiter offered them.

"No, thanks." The Doctor said and Stella waved him away as well. "You had Petrifold Regression, right?"

"That being the operative word." The Duke said. "Past tense. Completely cured."

"But that's impossible." The Doctor pointed out.

"Primitive species would accuse us of magic, but it's merely the tender application of science." Casp told them.

"Amazing." Stella commented.

"How on Earth did you cure him?" The Doctor asked.

"How on New Earth, you might say." Casp corrected him.

"What's in that solution?" The Doctor asked looking over the fluids.

"A simple remedy." Casp replied.

"Then tell us what it is." Stella said eyeing Casp suspiciously.

"I'm sorry. Patient confidentiality." Casp said curtly. "I don't believe we've met. My name is Matron Casp."

"I'm the Doctor and this is Stella." The Doctor replied.

"I think you'll find that we're the doctors here." Casp said as Jatt walked in quickly.

"Matron Casp, you're needed in Intensive Care." Jatt said to Casp.

"If you would excuse me." Casp and Jatt walked away.

"Well that doesn't scream suspicious at all does it." Stella said watching as Casp and Jatt walked away. "This is why Boe sent you the message Doctor, something is not right and I need help to figure it out."

'Ambient temperature stands at fourteen degrees. This temperature is designed to promote healing and well-being.'

The Doctor and Stella were going round all the cubicles as Stella explained some of the things she'd seen.

"So many incurable diseases cured in a matter of days. I've been trying to figure out how they do it, but no luck." Stella told him as Rose walked into the room. "Hello Rose, long time no see."

"Yeah, ah…hi." Rose said stiffly.

"There you are. Come and look at this patient. Marconi's Disease. Should take years to recover. Two days." The Doctor pulled her along showing her the different medical cases. "I've never seen anything like it. They've invented a cell washing cascade. It's amazing. Their medical science is way advanced."

"And this one, Pallidome Pancrosis. Kills you in ten minutes, and he's fine." Stella pointed to another man.

"I need to find a terminal. I've got to see how they do this." The Doctor said looking around. "Because if they've got the best medicine in the world, then why is it such a secret?"

"I can't Adam and Eve it." 'Rose' said in a snooty voice.

"What's, what's, what's with the voice?" The Doctor asked as he and Stella gave Rose strange looks.

"Oh, I don't know. Just larking about. New Earth, new me." 'Rose' said stepping close to the Doctor.

"Well, I can talk. New New Doctor." The Doctor laughed.

"Mmm, aren't you just." 'Rose' grabbed the Doctor and kissed him, long and hard as Stella watched wide eyed and mouth falling open. 'Rose' pulled back with an audible pop. "Terminal's this way. Phew."

"Yep, still got it." The Doctor said in a high pitched voice as 'Rose' walked away.

"How long has that been going on?" Stella asked with a smirk.

"Since just then really." The Doctor replied confusing Stella as they walked out of the ward and into the waiting room.

"Here's one." Stella said pointing at the computer terminal, by the lift. The Doctor quickly started to go through the information on it.

"Nope, nothing odd. Surgery, post-op, nano-dentistry. No sign of a shop. They should have a shop." The Doctor said looking the screen over.

"No, it's missing something else. When I was downstairs, those Nurse Cat Nuns were talking about Intensive Care. Where is it?" 'Rose' questioned.

"You're right." The Doctor said looking to her. "Well done."

"Why would they hide a whole department?" Stella asked.

"It's got to be there somewhere. Search the sub-frame." 'Rose' told the Doctor.

"What if the sub-frame's locked?" The Doctor asked.

"Try the installation protocol." 'Rose' said easily. Stella shot the Doctor a quick glance and received a subtle shake of his head telling her to keep quiet.

"Yeah. Of course. Sorry. Hold on." The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver on the interface, and the whole wall slid down to reveal a corridor.

"Intensive Care. Certainly looks intensive." The Doctor commented.

-0-

Rose led the way down an old-fashioned staircase. The whole place was lined with the cells, thousands of them. The Doctor opened one at random revealing a very sick looking man.

"That's disgusting. What's wrong with him?" 'Rose' asked.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor said softly as closed the door and moved on to the next this one containing a young woman.

"This is a nightmare." Stella said in a hoarse voice. "How could anyone be so cruel?"

"What disease is that?" 'Rose' asked.

"All of them. Every single disease in the galaxy. They've been infected with everything." The Doctor answered.

"What about us? Are we safe?" 'Rose' asked in concern.

"The air's sterile. Just don't touch them." The Doctor said as he closed the door.

"How many patients are there?" 'Rose' asked.

"They're not patients." Stella said.

"But they're sick." 'Rose' said.

"They were born sick. They're meant to be sick. They exist to be sick." The Doctor bit out angrily.

"Lab rats. No wonder the Sisters have got a cure for everything." Stella snapped her fists tightening. "They've built the ultimate research laboratory. A human farm."

"Why don't they just die?" 'Rose' asked.

"Plague carriers. The last to go." The Doctor said bitterly.

"It's for the greater cause." Hame said as she walked up to them.

"Novice Hame, when you took your vows, did you agree to this?" The Doctor demanded.

"The Sisterhood has sworn to help." Hame replied.

"What, by killing?" The Doctor snapped.

"Look at them, this is not helping them. You're torturing them, they are in agony from the moment they draw their first breath until they are finally allowed to die." Stella raged almost to the point of yelling.

"But they're not real people. They're specially grown. They have no proper existence." Hame defended herself and her sister hood.

"What's the turnover, hmm? Thousand a day? Thousand the next? Thousand the next? How many thousands? For how many years? How many!" The Doctor shouted.

"Mankind needed us. They came to this planet with so many illnesses. We couldn't cope." Hame nearly shouted back. "We did try. We tried everything. We tried using clone-meat and bio-cattle, but the results were too slow, so the Sisterhood grew its own flesh. That's all they are. Flesh."

"These people are alive." The Doctor growled.

"But think of those Humans out there, healthy and happy, because of us." Hame said.

"But look at all of the death in here." Stella snapped gesturing around them.

"If they live because of this, then life is worthless." The Doctor said.

"But who are you to decide that?" Hame snapped.

"I'm the Doctor. And if you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, then there isn't one. It stops with me." The Doctor replied.

"Just to confirm. None of the humans in the city actually know about this?" 'Rose' asked.

"We thought it best not." Hame replied.

"Hold on. I can understand the bodies. I can understand your vows. One thing I can't understand. What have you done to Rose?" The Doctor demanded.

"I don't know what you mean." Hame said in confusion.

"And I'm being very, very calm. You want to be aware of that. Very, very calm." The Doctor ground out. "And the only reason I'm being so very, very calm is that the brain is a delicate thing. Whatever you've done to Rose's head, I want it reversed."

"We haven't done anything." Hame replied.

"I'm perfectly fine." 'Rose' said waving him off.

"These people are dying, and Rose would care." The Doctor looked to the Doctor.

"Oh, all right, clever clogs. Smarty pants. Lady-killer." 'Rose' said with an annoyed look.

"What's happened to you?" The Doctor asked.

"I knew something was going on in this hospital, but I needed this body and your mind to find it out." 'Rose' replied.

"Who are you?" Stella demanded.

"The last human." Cassandra replied.

"Cassandra?" The Doctor said.

"The trampoline lady from Platform one? I thought you dried up and went splat." Stella said with a raised eyebrow.

"Wake up and smell the perfume." Cassandra said squirting them with perfume that made them both pass out.

-0-

Waking up was a head splitting affair as the blurry vision slowly cleared and the fuzzy voice became clearer.

"Stella! Stella, wake up!" The Doctor called out and as she did so she realized the position they were in.

"Well this is awkward." Stella said from where she was strapped into a chair in one of the cells…on the Doctor's lap who was also strapped. "How did that stuff even work on me, is shouldn't have, I have an air purification system in my lungs."

"And that's why I made a special perfume just for you and the Doctor." Cassandra smirked.

"Let us out! Let us out!" The Doctor snapped.

"Sorry there was only one to spare? Standing room only." Cassandra snickered.

"You've stolen Rose's body." The Doctor snapped.

"Over the years, I've thought of a thousand ways to kill you, Doctor and you as well Stella." Cassandra told them.

"That's just not leading a full life." Stella commented, gently testing the strength of the restraints while being mindful of the Doctors hands which were strapped against hers.

"And now, that's exactly what I've got. One thousand diseases." Cassandra said triumphantly, ignoring Stella. "They pump the patients with a top-up every ten minutes. You've got about three minutes left. Enjoy."

"Just let Rose go, Cassandra." The Doctor snapped.

"I will. As soon as I've found someone younger, and less common, then I'll junk her with the waste." Cassandra replied flippantly. "Now hushaby. It's ShowTime."

Cassandra grinned wickedly as she closed the door sealing them in.

"So plan?" Stella asked as she struggled in the bonds.

"None at the moment." The Doctor said. "You?"

"Well I could rip the restraints off, but I would probably crush your hands in the process." Stella commented.

"We'll call that plan Z." The Doctor said.

"What about your sonic?" Stella asked.

"It's in my breast coat pocket." He replied.

"Right or left?" Stella asked.

"Left." The Doctor answered.

"Ok, let's see if I can just…" Stella tried to rub her shoulder against the Doctor's chest to get the sonic out. "Try not to enjoy this."

"I'll do my best." The Doctor replied with a small grunt as Stella scoffed a bit. She wiggled around a bit more, getting closer to the Doctor than she had ever been before, both of them going a little red in the face.

"I can't get it." Stella said in frustration as she looked back to the Doctor. "Now what?" Suddenly the door opened and their bonds released them. "That'll do it."

"Works for me." The Doctor said as they stood up and rushed out along with a lot of dazed, diseased people also coming from their prisons.

"What've you done?" Stella snapped when she spotted Cassandra.

"Gave the system a shot of adrenaline, just to wake them up. See you!" Cassandra said making her getaway.

"Don't touch them! Whatever you do, don't touch!" The Doctor said as he grabbed Stella's hand and they ran after Cassandra and Chip. Suddenly there was a power surge then all of the cells opened allowing all of the sick out.

"They're free, all of them." Stella said.

"Oh, my God." Cassandra breathed out.

"What the hell have you done?" The Doctor turned on Cassandra.

"It wasn't me." Cassandra argued.

"What happens if they touch us?" Stella asked gripping the Doctor's hand tightly.

"One touch and you get every disease in the world, and I want that body safe, Cassandra." The Doctor snapped at Cassandra.

"We've got to go down." Stella said as she started down the stairs.

"But there's thousands of them!" Cassandra said as she and the Doctor followed.

"Then run fast." Stella snapped.

"Run! Down! Down! Go down!" The Doctor ordered. "Keep going! Go down!"

Cassandra ran to call a lift, but Stella grabbed her hand stopping her.

"No, the lifts have closed down." The Doctor said. "That's the quarantine. Nothing's moving."

"This way!" Cassandra led Stella and the Doctor towards her lair, but Chip got cut off from them as more people approach.

"Wait, that man…." Stella said pointing to Chip. "Someone will touch him."

"Leave him! He's just a clone thing. He's only got a half-life. Come on!" Cassandra snapped running away leaving the Doctor torn.

"Mistress!" Chip called out as he avoided the sick.

"I'm sorry, I can't let her escape." The Doctor said taking Stella's hand.

"There has to be something…" Stella tried.

"We can't help him." The Doctor said softly.

"My Mistress!" Chip yelled as the Doctor pulled Stella away.

"I'm sorry!" Stella called out before they ran, feeling the guilt welling in her stomach. Cassandra ran to the back door but there were people there, too.

"We're trapped! What am I going to do?" Cassandra panicked.

"Well, for starters, you're going to leave that body. That psychograft is banned on every civilized planet. You're compressing Rose to death." The Doctor snapped.

"But I've got nowhere to go. My original skin's dead." Cassandra argued.

"Not my problem. You can float as atoms in the air. Now, get out. Give her back to me." The Doctor demanded.

"You asked for it." Cassandra took a deep breath and blew energy out to the Doctor.

"Blimey, my head." Rose swayed, Stella grabbing her arm to support her.

"Just take some deep breaths." Stella cautioned. "Get you barring's."

"Stella?" Rose said in surprise.

"Hey Rose." Stella smiled as they hugged.

"Wait, Cassandra, where'd she go?" Rose asked then they both looked to the Doctor.

"Oh, my. This is different." Cassandra said in the Doctor's body.

"Cassandra?" Rose said cautiously.

"Goodness me, I'm a man. Yum. So many parts. And hardly used." Cassandra said then started to dance. "Oh, oh, two hearts! Oh, baby, I'm beating out a samba!"

"Get out of him." Rose snapped,

"Oo, he's slim, and a little bit foxy. You've thought so too. I've been inside your head. You've been looking. You like it." Cassandra teased Rose who blushed, glancing at Stella.

"Big deal, I'm looking at him and I think he's a real piece of ok." Stella rolled her eyes then the diseased people burst in.

"What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?" Cassandra panicked in a high pitched voice.

"Ladder. We've got to get up." Stella replied.

"Out of the way, Robo-girl, you to blondie move it!" Cassandra said shoving them out of the way and starting up the ladder.

"Go Rose." Stella urged her up then followed.

"Please, help us. Help." A woman begged as they climbed up the ladder after them.

"If you get out of the Doctor's body, he can think of something." Rose argued.

"Yap, yap, yap. God, it was tedious inside your head. Hormone city." Cassandra whined.

"We're going to die if…" Stella started, but was cut off when Matron Casp grabbed her ankle. "Oi! Get off whiskers!"

"All our good work. All that healing. The good name of the Sisterhood. You have destroyed everything." Casp screamed at them.

"Go and play with a ball of string." Cassandra snarked.

"Everywhere, disease. This is the human world. Sickness!" Casp yelled. Then a diseased arm reached up and grasped Casp's ankle and she fell, screaming as the disease killed her long before she hit the bottom.

"Move!" Stella ordered.

'Maximum quarantine. Divert all shuttles.'

They came to the doors on the next level, but they would not open.

"Help us." A man groaned.

"Now what do we do?" Cassandra demanded.

"Use the sonic screwdriver." Rose told her.

"You mean this thing?" Cassandra asked as she took out said device.

"Yes, I mean that thing." Rose replied.

"Well, I don't know how. That Doctor's hidden away all his thoughts." Cassandra snapped.

"Cassandra, go back into me. The Doctor can open it. Do it!" Rose ordered.

"Hold on tight." Cassandra said and the energy transferred.

"Oh, chavtastic again." Cassandra groaned. "Open it!"

"Not till you get out of her." The Doctor replied.

"We need the Doctor." Cassandra argued.

"I order you to leave her." The Doctor snapped so Cassandra swapped back again.

"No matter how difficult the situation, there is no need to shout." Cassandra said.

"Cassandra, get out of him!" Rose snapped.

"But I can't go into you, he simply refuses. He's so rude." Cassandra replied then gestured to Stella. "And if I go into her it will be just as bad."

"We don't care. Just do something." Stella yelled losing her temper.

"Oh, I am so going to regret this." Cassandra transferred to the lead woman on the ladder below them. "Oh, sweet Lord. I look disgusting."

The Doctor opened the lift doors and then helps Rose and Stella up.

"Nice to have you back." The Doctor said to Rose.

"It's good to have both of you back, that switching thing was getting really annoying." Stella said as the doors started to close.

"No, you don't." Cassandra's energy made it to Rose before the lift doors close again.

"That was your last warning, Cassandra!" The Doctor snapped, but Cassandra wasn't listening. She was curled up against the wall her face sad and confused.

"Inside her head. They're so alone. They keep reaching out, just to hold us. All their lives and they've never been touched." Cassandra said in a broken voice. The Doctor held out his hand to her and helped her up.

"We need to get back to the ward." Stella said and they all ran inside only for Frau Clovis to lunge at them with a metal stand.

"We're safe! We're safe! We're safe! We're clean! We're clean! Look, look." The Doctor said as they all flinched back.

"Show me your skin." Clovis demanded.

"Look, clean. Look, if we'd been touched, we'd be dead." Stella reasoned with Clovis.

"So how's it going up here? What's the status?" The Doctor asked when Clovis relaxed.

"There's nothing but silence from the other wards. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal over to New New York, they can send a private executive squad." Clovis replied.

"You can't do that. If they forced entry, they'd break quarantine." Stella snapped.

"I am not dying in here." Clovis argued.

"We can't let a single particle of disease get out. There is ten million people in that city. They'd all be at risk. Now, turn that off!" The Doctor ordered.

"Not if it gets me out." Clovis replied, moving back holding the device close.

"All right, fine. So I have to stop you lot as well. Suits me. Rose, Stella, novice Hame, everyone! Excuse me, your Grace. Get me intravenous solutions for every single disease. Move it!" The Doctor snapped everyone into motion. They all grabbed the drip bags while the Doctor collected a long piece of heavy silk rope and starts hanging them on his body.

"How's that? Will that do?" The Doctor asked.

"I don't know. Will it do for what?" Cassandra asked.

"Just fine, perfect." Stella said as she strapped on the rest. They ran into the waiting room and up to the lifts. The Doctor opened the lift doors starring down the shaft.

"The lifts aren't working." Cassandra said.

"Not moving. Different thing. Here we go." The Doctor put the sonic screwdriver between his teeth and ran.

"But you're not going to…" Casandra stuttered as he jumped and grabbed the lift cable. "What do you think you're doing?"

"We're going down!" Stella replied.

"Come on!" The Doctor said as he attached a round piece of equipment to the cable.

"Cassandra, keep Rose safe." Stella said pushing Cassandra back into the Ward.

"What are you going to do?" Cassandra asked.

"Stuff." Stella said and shoved her through the doors right before they sealed them.

"Seal the door!" Clovis ordered. Stella ran back over to the lift and jumped onto the Doctor's back wrapping her arms and legs around him.

"You're completely mad." Stella laughed, her chin resting on his shoulder. "I love it."

"Going down!" The Doctor smiled as the improvised wheel he had attached to the cable takes them down the shaft. After a short sequence of screaming and laughing, the Doctor put on the brake and they come to a gentle stop on top of the lift.

"That was brilliant." Stella said as she slipped off the Doctor's back.

"Now, listen. When I say so, take hold of that lever." The Doctor told her and she nodded.

"Right." Stella said and handed him all of the liquids she had gathered. "What are you doing?"

"I'm cooking up a cocktail. I know a bit about medicine myself." The Doctor replied as he poured the contents of the drip bags into the lift's disinfectant tank. "Now, that lever's going to resist. But keep it in position. Hold onto it with everything you've got."

"What about you?" Stella asked in concern.

"I've got an appointment. The Doctor is in." He said as he dropped down into the lift itself. He opened the doors with his sonic screwdriver and the diseased people turn to look. "I'm in here! Come on! Pull that lever!"

"Got it." Stella said pulling on the lever as all the diseased people in hotel reception start to shuffle toward the lift.

"Come and get me. Come on!" The Doctor said as they came in. "I'm in here! Come on!"

'Commence stage one disinfection.'

"Hurry up! Come on!" The Doctor said as the contents of the disinfectant tank are poured onto him. "Come on, come on." The first of the humans joined him, and got sprayed as well, then left. "All they want to do is pass it on. Pass it on!"

"Is it working?" Stella called down.

"Yeah." The Doctor cheered. "Pass it on!" The disinfected and wet humans touched their diseased comrades. There are hisses and steam coming off their skin, which were now clear of symptoms. "Go on."

"Can I come down now?" Stella asked looking through the hole in the ceiling of the lift.

"Yeah, it's safe." The Doctor said holding up his hand and helping Stella down.

"Are they going to be ok?" Stella asked as they watched them pass on the cure.

"Yeah we cured them." The Doctor replied as a woman walked up and hugged the Doctor and a man went up to Stella hugging her as well.

"Oh, it's all going to be ok now, you're all better now." Stella said rubbing his back before releasing him.

"That's right. Hey, there we go, sweetheart. Go to him. Go on, that's it. That's it." The Doctor said as he guided her toward the man that had been hugging Stella. Then he wrapped his arm around Stella enthusiastically smiling brightly. "It's a new sub-species, Stella. A brand new form of life. New humans! Look at them. Look! Grown by cats, kept in the dark, fed by tubes, but completely, completely alive. They can't deny them, because they helped create them. The human race just keeps on going, keeps on changing. Life will out! Ha!"

"I've lived a long time and life is always the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." Stella smiled leaning her head on the Doctors shoulder.

-0-

A little later, the quarantine had been formally lifted.

"This is the NNYPD. Please step away from the shuttles." A voice over a loud speaker called out.

'All staff will present themselves to the officers for immediate arrest. I repeat, immediate arrest. All new life forms will be catalogued and taken into care. All visitors to the hospital will be required to make a statement to the NNYPD.'

"The Face of Boe!" The Doctor said as he walked up to Boe and Stella the last two people in the ward. "You were supposed to be dying."

"There are better things to do today. Dying can wait." Boe replied.

"Oh, I hate telepathy. Just what I need, a head full of big face." Cassandra whined.

"Shh!" The Doctor snapped.

"I have grown tired with the universe, Doctor, but you have taught me to look at it anew." Boe said with a large smile.

"There are legends, you know, saying that you're millions of years old." The Doctor commented.

"There are? That would be impossible." Boe replied with a smirk

"Wouldn't it just. I got the impression there was something you wanted to tell me." The Doctor said.

"A great secret." Boe nodded.

"So the legend says." The Doctor said.

"It can wait." Boe replied.

"Oh, does it have to?" The Doctor whined.

"We shall meet again, Doctor, for the third time, for the last time, and the truth shall be told. Until that day." Boe said then looked to Stella. "It is time to go little star."

"It was good to see you again Doctor, I hope that one day when I can you will allow me to travel with you for a time." Stella said as she hugged the Doctor who hugged her back.

"You could come with me now." The Doctor commented having enjoyed her company over the few times they had met.

"Not just yet, I have things I must do." Stella replied reluctantly stepping back next to Boe. "Good bye Doctor and give my love to Rose." Stella and Boe beam away and onto their ship. "Will I ever get to go with him?"

"One day soon, you'll know the day. I have programmed it into your manipulator." Boe replied.

"I hate waiting and your crypticness." Stella pouted as she walked to the cockpit while Boe laughed softly. "And don't think for a moment that I forgot that you played hooky."

"It was necessary." He replied.

"It was mean." Stella snapped, her voice strained and tears in her eyes. "You're my family. Did you even think what it would be like for me to lose you?"

"I'm sorry little star, for the pain I caused you." Boe said solemnly.

"It's ok, you have your reasons and I'm assuming they're good." Stella replied, still giving him a look.

"They are very good." Boe said looking out the window at the numerous stars. "And they will lead you to a very happy future."

Stella followed his gaze thinking about his words imagining what they could mean for her.


	5. Chapter 5

Stella revved the motor of her cherry red BSA A65 Star motorcycle with crème and silver accents grinning as she sped down the street. She wore a cherry red jet helmet, a black leather jacket with red lining, a red crop top with black buttons, black high waist rolled up jeans, a pair of red cat-eye sunglasses, a pair of red toe-less flats with small black bows on the tops, and a pair of black pearl stud earrings that matched the necklace around her neck.

Her makeup was very fifties with ruby red lips, thick black eye liner on top of her lips that came to a point, perfectly sculpted eyebrows that were made to look a little thicker than her originals, and the nails on her hands and feet were painted ruby red with black tips that matched her toes.

She had decided to come and see the coronation of Elizabeth, but had ended up in the wrong place and was now making her way to London. She had just pulled into the little town when she saw all the TV antennas on the houses, a lot more than there should be.

She was about to shrug it off and move on when she saw a very familiar pinstripe suit on a blue moped with a blonde racing down the street. Thinking what were the odds she sped after them as they followed a police car all the way to a dead end where the police disappeared.

"Lost them. How'd they get away from us?" The Doctor looked around, but the only thing in the dead end was a fruit cart and two men.

"Surprised they didn't turn back and arrest you for reckless driving. Have you actually passed your test?" Rose asked.

"Men in black? Vanishing police cars? This is Churchill's England, not Stalin's Russia." The Doctor went on then both he and Rose jumped as Stella squealed to a stop beside them one foot on the ground.

"Hello Doctor, Rose, fancy meeting you here." Stella grinned.

"Stella." Rose smiled.

"What are you doing here and where did you learn to ride a bike like that?" The Doctor asked as he looked over the motorcycle, his eyes maybe lingering on her legs longer than he should have.

"I rode with a couple of big motorcycle gangs in America, you know the Pagans, Outlaws, Bandidos, and of course the Hell's Angels, they taught me everything I know." Both Rose and the Doctor looked at her wide eyed. "Rebel phase." Stella shrugged as a way of explanation. "As for why I'm here, I came to see the coronation of course, but ended up in the wrong place, couple of days early as well so I was going to make a road trip of it. What about you?"

"Well we were going to see Elvis." Rose commented looking pointedly at the Doctor.

"Oh, Elvis huh? Well when you see him tell him Stella said hi." Stella smiled saucily.

"You know Elvis?" Rose said in surprise.

"Oh yeah, wrote Are You Lonesome Tonight together and singing with him…wow." Stella reminisced dreamily, then shook her head clearing it up and focusing on the present once again. "But enough about me, looks like you two stumbled onto something."

"Yeah, these men in black just kidnapped this guy right in front of us. We were chasing them, but the disappeared." Rose told her.

"Well gang looks like we have a mystery on our hands." Stella grinned rubbing her hands together.

"Scooby Doo? Really?" The Doctor teased.

"What can I say? They always had the best bad guys dressed up as monsters." Stella stuck out her tongue.

"Monsters, that boy said." Rose said suddenly drawing their attention. "Maybe we should go and ask the neighbors."

"That's what I like about you." The Doctor said starting up his scooted. "The domestic approach."

"Thank you." Rose smiled then heard Stella giggling. "Hold on, was that an insult?" The Doctor took off with Stella following. "Whoa!"

-0-

By the time they came back to the neighborhood the Doctor and Rose had been talking about it was late, the sun having already set.

"This is it." Rose said as they pulled up in front of one of the brick houses. Stella pulled off her helmet showing off her rockabilly-rosie hair style complete with a red scarf, some of her curls escaping here and there. "Love your hair."

"Thanks, your hair looks good as well." Stella smiled and they started to talk about how they put together their outfits. Stella was particularly interested in the giant closet that was in the Tardis, it sounded like a costume lover's dream come true.

"Enough girl talk, remember the mystery." The Doctor called them back into focus, bordering on whining.

"Yes sir." Stella and Rose mock-saluted making.

"Don't do that." The Doctor grumbled.

"Why? Does it annoy you?" Stella asked.

"Yes." The Doctor replied.

"Then I for one will have to keep doing it." Stella grinned, saluting once more time then knocking on the door before the Doctor could make a reply, though she could see he was amused, but trying to hide it.

"Hi!" The trio said together when the door was answered by a portly older man.

"Who are you, then?" He demanded.

"Let's see, then." The Doctor looked over the man. "Judging by the look of you, family man, nice house, decent wage, fought in the war, therefore I represent Queen and country." The Doctor held up the psychic paper. "Just doing a little check of her forthcoming Majesty's subjects before the great day. Don't mind if I come in?" The Doctor pushed his way in along with Rose and Stella. "Nah, I didn't think you did. Thank you." They walked straight into the living room where a boy and his mother were. "Not bad. Very nice. Very well kept." The Doctor said looking around. "I'd like to congratulate you, Mrs.?"

"Connolly." Rita replied.

"Now then, Rita. I can handle this. This gentleman's a proper representative." Eddie ordered his wife. "Don't mind the wife, she rattles on a bit."

"Well, maybe she should rattle on a bit more. I'm not convinced you're doing your patriotic duty." The Doctor said in annoyance at the man's attitude then looked over to the flags lying nearby. "Nice flags. Why are they not flying?"

"There we are Rita, I told you, get them up." Eddie ordered his wife who quickly went to do so. "Queen and country."

"I'm sorry." Rita said quickly.

"Get it done. Do it now." Eddie demanded.

"Hold on a minute." Stella said icily crossing her arms.

"Like the gentleman says." Eddie went on ignoring Stella, who did not take kindly to that.

"Hold on a minute." Stella snapped her fingers gaining Eddie's attention, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "You've got hands, Mister Connolly, two big hands. So why is that your wife's job?"

"Well, it's housework, innit?" Eddie replied.

"And that's a woman's job?" Stella asked darkly while Rose and the Doctor watch in amusement as Eddie shrunk back a bit. Both would freely admit that Stella could be intimidating when she wanted to be.

"Of course it is." Eddie stuttered out trying not show the effect this woman was having on him, his palms starting to sweat.

"Mister Connolly, what gender is the Queen?" Stella questioned lifting her chin.

"She's a female." Eddie replied.

"And are you suggesting the Queen does the housework?" Stella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, not at all." Eddie said quickly.

"Then get busy." Stella ordered as she picked up the flags shoving them into his hands.

"Right. Yes, ma'am." Eddie said quickly taking the flags and stringing them up. Both the mother and the son looked surprised and happy at the sight of Eddie doing the house work. "You'll be proud of us. We'll have Union Jacks left, right and center."

"Excuse me, Mister Connolly." He ignored Rose as he had Stella. "Hang on a minute." Rose said calling his attention. "Union Jacks?"

"Yes, that's right, isn't it?" Eddie questioned.

"That's the Union Flag. It's the Union Jack only when it's flown at sea." Rose informed him.

"Oh. Oh, I'm sorry, I do apologize." Eddie said.

"Well, don't get it wrong again, there's a good man. Now get to it!" Rose ordered him, Stella sending her a quick thumbs up mouthing 'Nice catch' the young blonde grinning in reply.

"Right then! Nice and comfy, at Her Majesty's leisure." The Doctor said as the trio settled onto the couch, Stella perching on the arm rest. "Union Flag?"

"Mum went out with a sailor." Rose answered quietly.

"Oh ho ho ho. I bet she did." The Doctor muttered with a laugh before looking to the son. "Anyway, I'm the Doctor, this is Rose, and this is Stella, and you are?"

"Tommy." He answered.

"Well, sit yourself down, Tommy. Have a look at this." The Doctor patted the seat between him and Rose, both of them moving over allowing him to take the seat.

"You to Mrs. Connelly, have a seat." Stella motioned for the mother to take the chair next to her.

"I love telly, don't you?" The Doctor gestured to the TV as Rita took a seat.

"Yeah, I think it's brilliant." Tommy nodded.

"Good man!" The Doctor said as the man on the TV is showed the viewers the vertebra of an ichthyosaurus. The Doctor glanced back at Eddie who was still trying to get the flags hung, but they were tangled and getting worse the more he worked at it. "Keep working, Mister C!" He then turned to Rita and Tommy leaning in close. "Now, why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

"Did you say you were a doctor?" Rita asked nervously.

"Yes, I am." The Doctor nodded.

"Can you help her? Oh please, can you help her, Doctor?" Rita begged gaining Eddie's attention.

"Now then, Rita. I don't think the gentleman needs to know…" Eddie tried to cut her off.

"No, the gentleman does." The Doctor cut him off.

"Tell us what's wrong, and we can help." Rose said and Rita started to cry causing Rose to get up and comfort her while Stella handed her a handkerchief.

"I'm sorry. It's all right. Come here. It's okay." Rose said comfortingly as Rita dabbed her eyes with the cloth, nodding a thank you to Stella.

"Hold on a minute." Eddie snapped as if he had just realized what was happening. "Queen and country's one thing, but this is my house! What the…?" He threw the bunting down. "What the hell am I doing?" He glared at the three time travelers advancing angrily on them. "Now you listen here, Doctor. You may have fancy qualifications, but what goes on under my roof is my business."

"A lot of people are being bundled into…" The Doctor started, his face propped up on his fist.

"I am talking!" Eddie bellowed.

"And I'm not listening!" The Doctor bellowed right back causing the man to flinch back as the Doctor shot to his feet. "Now you, Mister Connolly, you are staring into a deep, dark _pit_ of trouble if you don't let me help. So I'm ordering you, sir! Tell me what's going on!"

'Thump. Thump. Thump.'

"What was that?" Stella asked looking up at the ceiling along with the others.

"She won't stop. She never stops." Eddie said.

"We started hearing stories, all round the place." Tommy told them, his face pale and fear stricken. "People who've changed. Families keeping it secret because they were scared. Then the police started finding out. We don't know how, no one does. They just turn up, come to the door and take them, any time of the day or night."

"Show me." The Doctor ordered.

-0-

Tommy led them up the stairs to a room at the end of the hall, his parents following behind them. He glanced nervously at them before opening the door to a dark room peering in.

"Gran? It's Tommy. It's all right, Gran. I've brought help." Tommy turned the light on revealing an old woman standing there with no eyes, nose or mouth.

"Her face is completely gone." The Doctor said as he used his sonic screwdriver, getting in close as he studied the elderly lady. "Scarcely an electrical impulse left. Almost complete neural shutdown. She's ticking over. It's like her brain has been wiped clean."

"What're we going to do, Doctor? We can't even feed her." Tommy said in despair, but then someone broke down the front door.

"We've got company." Rose said.

"It's them. They've come for her!" Rita said in a strained voice.

"Quickly. What was she doing before this happened? Where was she? Tell me. Quickly, think!" The Doctor urged Tommy and Rita.

"I can't think! She doesn't leave the house! She was just…" Tommy didn't get to finish as burly men in black burst in.

"Hold on a minute. There are three important, brilliant, and complicated reasons why you should listen to me. One…." The Doctor tried then got punched in the face by one of the men.

"Doctor!" Rose called out, she and Stella kneeling down next to him while the men threw a blanket over Gran and bundled her out while Rose and Stella tried to wake the Doctor up.

"Leave her alone! No!" Rita tried to stop them, but it seemed that Eddie had no trouble letting them take her away, even going to far as to help the men.

"Doctor!" Rose tried again.

"Don't hurt her!" Rita begged as they took the grandmother down the stairs and out of the house. Rita and Tommy ran after them trying to stop them, but it was no use.

"Back inside, Rita." Eddie called after his wife and son.

"She's my mother." Rita sobbed as Eddie forced them to stay inside.

"Back inside now, I said." Eddie ordered dragging her back inside as the grandmother was driven away in the car.

"Let's try this." Stella said grabbing a glass of water that was on the night stand and pouring it over the Doctor's face causing him to suddenly sit up, nearly giving Rose a Glasgow kiss.

"Ah, hell of a right hook. Have to watch out for that." The Doctor said shooting to his feet shaking his head to dispel the water shooting Stella a look.

"We didn't have time for you to take a beauty nap, they're taking grandma away." Stella rolled her eyes as she hurried down the stairs to the foyer.

"Don't fight it. Back inside." Eddie ordered Rita.

"Rose, come on!" The Doctor urged her following Stella out of the house to their modes of transportation.

"Get back inside!" Eddie snapped as Rose stopped at the living room door and saw red energy coming from the television set.

"But Dad, they took her!" Tommy tried.

"Don't fight it, son. Don't fight it." Eddie ordered.

"Rose, we're going to lose them again!" The Doctor called out.

"I got this." Stella said as she revved her engine and took off after the men.

"Stella, wait…." The Doctor yelled after her, but she was already off.

"Dad, they took her! That was Gran and they took her!" Tommy continued to call out.

"Come on, back inside, now." Eddie ordered.

The Doctor glanced back to the house then to where Stella had taken off knowing it wasn't a good idea for her to be on her own with these goons wondering around. Casting one last look to the house he revved his own engine and took off after Stella and the Men in Black.

He managed to catch up to Stella and the men speeding through the streets, barely able to see the black since it was so dark. This time they were quick enough, arriving just in time to see the tail end of Operation Market Stall. Stella let out a low whistle sharing an excited grin with the Doctor.

"Oh, very good. Very good." The Doctor said as he and Stella got of their bikes to explore the surrounding area.

They moved along the sidewalk staying close to the wall and out of the light of the streetlamps. The Doctor tested a bared door before moving on leading Stella to another not far past the first. The Doctor used his screwdriver to open a small door in the big gates, glancing around to make sure no one was looking before slipping in. The moved as silently as they could hiding behind some junk of some sort, making they weren't seen as they watched the going ons.

In the yard, they saw two burly men talking silently as they padlocked a wire door and walked off. The Doctor and Stella waited a few moments before they went over and unlocked it allowing them into an area with large cages. The Doctor went up to the next lock opening it revealing a group of blank people, who occasionally clenched their fists, but were otherwise still. The Doctor took out a flashlight and looked over the faceless people closest to them.

"All of them, exactly the same." Stella breathed out as they seemed to be closing in, forcing them against the bars.

They've all had their faces, their souls taken." The Doctor bit out taking hold of Stella's hand.

"Stay where you are." Someone ordered as a pair of searchlights came on.

-0-

The Doctor and Stella sat side by side as Bishop as they came to find was his name interrogated them. It was all very cliché with the one lamp light focused on them as they sat behind a desk, bad cop good cop, and the dilapidated atmosphere that the old building was giving off.

"Start from the beginning. Tell me everything you know." Bishop, an older looking gentleman, ordered. Standing behind him was the burly man, his hands clasped in front of him trying to look imposing which of course had no effect on the Doctor or Stella.

"Well, for starters, I know you can't wrap your hand around your elbow and make your fingers meet." The Doctor said with a grin.

"Huh, I never really tried that, neat." Stella said as she tried it on her own arm, then her face lit up as she thought of something herself. "Hey did you know you see your nose at all times, your brain just ignores it."

"Don't get clever with me." Bishop ordered as he pointed at them. "You were there today at Florizel Street, and now breaking into this establishment. Now you're connected with this. Make no mistake."

"Well, the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop." The Doctor started.

"How do you know my name?" Bishop demanded.

"It's written inside your collar." Stella gestured to his collar as she leaned back in her chair. "Bless your mom."

"But I can't help thinking, Detective Inspector, you're not exactly doing much detective inspecting, are you?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm doing everything in my power." Bishop defended himself.

"All you're doing is grabbing those faceless people and hiding them as fast as you can. Don't tell me orders from above, hmm? Coronation Day. The eyes of the world are on London Town so any sort of problem just gets swept out of sight." The Doctor said as he turned the chair he was in back and forth.

"The nation has an imagine to maintain." Bishop said.

"But doesn't it drive you mad, doing nothing? Don't you want to get out there and investigate?" Stella asked placing her hands behind her head.

"Of course I do. But…" Bishop sat down heavily in his chair before them. "…with all the crowds expected, we haven't got the man power. Even if we did, this is beyond anything we've ever seen. I just don't know anymore." He stared down at the pictured of the faceless people on the desk between them. "Twenty years on the force, I don't even know where to start. We haven't the faintest clue what's going on."

"Well, that could change." The Doctor and Stella leaned forward.

"How?" Bishop asked.

"Start from the beginning. Tell us everything you know." The Doctor replied standing to his feet, his hands on the desk.

"We started finding them about a month ago. Persons left sans visage. Heads just blank." Bishop explained as they stood up moving over to the map they had showing where the faceless had been found.

"Is there any sort of pattern?" Stella asked studying the map, glancing over to the Doctor who was wearing his glasses. She made a mental note to ask him if he really needed them or if they were just for fun.

"Yes, spreading out from North London. All over the city. Men, women, kids, grannies." Bishop told them as the Doctor looked over some files while Stella's finger moved along the map, seeing where the most were found. "The only real lead is there's been quite a large number in…"

"Florizel Street." The Doctor and Stella said together.

"Found another one, sir." A man walked into the room with someone covered in a blanket.

"Oh, er, good man, Crabtree. Here we are, Doctor. Take a good look. See what you can deduce." Bishop said as Crabtree took the blanket off.

"Oh my…" Stella breathed out looking nervously from the Doctor to a faceless Rose.

"Rose." The Doctor said in shock.

"You know her?" Bishop asked as the Doctor walked up to Rose.

"Know her? She…" The Doctor trialed off, unable to say anymore.

"They found her in the street, apparently, abandoned." The man who had brought her in informed them.

"That's unusual. That's the first one out in the open. Heaven help us if something happens in public tomorrow for the big day. We'll have Torchwood on our backs then, make no mistake." Bishop said shaking his head.

"They did what?" The Doctor's tone was chilling to the bone.

"I'm sorry?" Bishop asked.

"They left her where?" The Doctor gritted out.

"Just in the street." Bishop answered.

"In the street. They left her in the street." The Doctor ground out, his anger apparent. Bishop looked from the Doctor to Stella, whose face had gone pale as she watched the Doctor. "They took her face and just chucked her out and left her in the street. And as a result, that makes things simple. Very, very simple. Do you know why?"

"No." Bishop shook his head as the Doctor took off his glasses, whipping around to face them.

"Because now, Detective Inspector Bishop, there is no power on this Earth that can stop me." The Doctor replied then started out of the building grabbing Stella's hand on the way out, Bishop following. "Come on!"

"The big day dawns." Bishop said as they stepped out into the sunlight of the new morning. They quickly grabbed their bikes and Bishop his car taking off for the Connelly house.

-0-

They pulled up in front of the house in no time, the Doctor charging up the front stoop ringing the bell, Stella standing next to him, Bishop on the other side of her. She glanced over at the Doctor before looking back to the door, his anger was truly terrifying to behold, but the desperation and sadness, that tore at her deeper than anything else.

"We've got this Doctor; Rose will be back to herself in no time." Stella said softly giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I know." The Doctor nodded tightening his hold on Stella's hand just before Tommy opened the door, then upon seeing the Doctor closed it behind him. "Tommy, talk to me. I need to know exactly what happened inside your house."

"What the blazes do you think you're doing?" Eddie yanked the door open, charging out and glaring at his son.

"I want to help, dad." Tommy tried.

"Mister Connolly…" The Doctor started.

"Shut your face, you, whoever you are." Eddie whirled around on him, getting in his face. "We can handle this ourselves." He turned back to his son, just as furious. "Listen, you little twerp. You're hardly out of the blooming' cradle, so I don't expect you to understand. But I've got a position to maintain. People round here respect me. It matters what people think."

"Is that why you did it, dad?" Tommy asked, realizing now.

"What do you mean? Did what?" Eddie's anger left him, as he looked nervously around.

"You ratted on Gran. How else would the police know where to look, unless some coward told them!" Tommy snapped.

"How dare you! Do you think I fought a war just so a mouthy little scum like you could call me a coward?" Eddie demanded his anger back, but less so than before.

"You don't get it, do you? You fought against fascism, remember? People telling you how to live, who you could be friends with, who you could fall in love with, who could live and who had to die. Don't you get it? You were fighting so that little twerps like me could do what we want, say what we want." Tommy talked back to his father, his anger exploding from him. "Now you've become just like them. You've been informing on everyone, haven't you? Even Gran. All to protect your precious reputation."

"Eddie is that true?" Rita said coming out of the house having heard them fighting.

"I did it for us, Rita. She was filthy. A filthy, disgusting thing!" Eddie snapped angrily.

"She's my mother. All the others you informed on, all the people in our street, our friends." Rita said in disbelief.

"I had to…I…I did the right thing." Eddie looked around to them all, but it was clear that no one agreed with his statement.

"The right thing for us or for you, Eddie?" Rita questioned before looking to Tommy. "You go, Tommy. Go with the Doctor and Stella, do some good. Get away from this house, it's poison." Rita looked to Eddie, her heart broken, but a new strength within her. "We had a ruddy monster under this roof, all right, but it weren't my mother!"

"Rita!" Eddie called out as Rita slammed the door closed in his face, locking him out.

"Tommy?" The Doctor looked to the boy who nodded leaving with them and leaving Eddie alone. They made their way down the street where trestle tables were being laid for the street party.

"Tommy, tell me about that night. The night she changed." The Doctor asked him.

"She was just watching the telly." Tommy shrugged.

"Rose said it. She guessed it straight away." The Doctor looked around. "Of course she did." Stella followed the Doctor's gaze to the roofs of the surrounding houses. "All these aerials in one little street. How come?"

"Bloke up the road, Mister Magpie, he's selling them cheap." Tommy answered.

"Now that is interesting." Stella commented before they ran off down the street.

"Come on!" The Doctor called out as they ran to the shop, but the place was closed and locked up tight. Stella grabbed the handle, crushing it in her grip, and forcing the door open breaking the frame where the lock was located, splintering the wood.

"Here, you can't do that…" Bishop said though it was clear that he as well as Tommy were surprised by her display of strength.

"So sue me." Stella replied as they went into the shop.

"Shop! If you're here, come out and talk to me!" The Doctor yelled as he rang the bell over and over again. "Magpie!"

"Maybe he's out." Tommy offered.

"Looks like it." The Doctor said as he and Stella searched the drawers of the counter.

"Doctor, look at this." Stella found the portable television.

"Oh, hello. This isn't right. This is very much not right." The Doctor said taking the TV from her, looking it over then licked it gaining some looks from the others. "Tastes like iron. Bakelite. Put together with human hands, yes, but the design itself. Oh, beautiful work. That is so simple."

"That's incredible. It's like a television, but portable. A portable television." Bishop said in astonishment as the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver.

"It's not the only power source in this room." The Doctor said as the television screens each lit up with a different face mouthing help me.

"Gran?" Tommy saw his grandmother on one of the TV's on top.

"Doctor." Stella said looking to a TV near the floor where Rose was mouthing Doctor, over and over again.

"I'm on my way." The Doctor said as he kneeled down in front of the TV. Stella placed a hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort him. He reached up taking her hand squeezing it in appreciation.

"What do you think you're doing?" Magpie asked as he came in from the back. The Doctor snapped to his feet charging over to the man.

"I want my friend restored, and I think that's beyond a little backstreet electrician, so tell me, who's really in charge here?" The Doctor demanded, towering over Magpie in his fury.

"Yoo hoo!" Wire called out from the TV gaining their attention. She was an older looking woman wearing an updo and had a very angular face. "I think that must be me. Ooh, this one's smart as paint and the girls not bad either."

"Is she talking to us?" Bishop asked.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen, ma'am, I'm afraid you've brought this on yourselves. May I introduce you to my new friend." Magpie said

"Jolly nice to meet you." Wire smiled.

"Wish I could say the same." Stella eyed the woman.

"Oh my God, it's her, that woman off the telly." Bishop said in shock.

"No, it's just using her image." The Doctor said.

"What? What are you?" Tommy asked.

"I'm the Wire, and I will gobble you up, pretty boy. Every last morsel. And when I have feasted, I shall regain the corporeal body, which my fellow kind denied me." The black and white image transformed into color, the woman gaining black hair, pale peach skin, and red lips.

"Good Lord. Color television!" Bishop said.

"So your own people tried to stop you." The Doctor surmised.

"They executed me. But I escaped in this form and fled across the stars." Wire told them.

"And now you're trapped in the television." Stella said, rocking on her heels.

"Not for much longer." Wire said going back to black and white.

"Doctor, Stella, is this what got my Gran?" Tommy asked them.

"Yes, Tommy. It feeds off the electrical activity of the brain, but it gorges itself like a great overfed pig, taking people's faces, their essences. It stuffs itself." The Doctor spat out.

"And you let her do it, Magpie." Stella accused the old man.

"I had to. She allowed me my face. She's promised to release me at the time of manifestation." Magpie replied, cowering away from them.

"What does that mean?" Tommy asked.

"The appointed time. My crowning glory." Wire grinned.

"Doctor, the coronation!" Bishop gasped out.

"For the first time in history, millions gathered around a television set. But you're not strong enough yet, are you? You can't do it all from here. That's why you need this." The Doctor held up the portable TV. "You need something more powerful! This will turn a big transmitter into a big receiver."

"What a clever thing you are! But why fret about it? Why not just relax? Kick off your shoes and enjoy the Coronation. Believe me, you'll be glued to the screen." Wire said as energy lanced out at them, concentrating on their faces holding them in place.

"Doctor!" Bishop called out.

"Hungry! Hungry! The Wire is hungry! Ah, this one is tasty. Oh, I'll have lashings of him! Delicious!" Wire practically moaned then seemed to realize something. "The woman, she is a cyborg, I will download myself into her, I will have a body sooner that I thought." Stella screamed out in horrible pain as the Wire tried to invade her, fighting her back, but the Doctor started to finger the sonic screwdriver. "Ah! Armed. He's armed and clever. Withdraw! Withdraw!" They were all released and they fell to the ground. Stella, the Doctor, and Tommy were unconscious, while Bishop was left faceless. "The box, Magpie! The box!" Magpie grabbed the portable. "Hold tight." The Wire zapped herself into the portable television. "Conduct me to my victory, Magpie."

Magpie ran out of the store as fast as he could and jumped into a van taking off. The Doctor woke spotting Bishops blank face. He was relieved when he saw that Stella and Tommy were left untouched.

"Stella, Tommy, wake up. Stella, Tommy, come on!" The Doctor shook them awake. Stella's eyes popped open glowing brightly.

"What happened?" Tommy asked then saw Stella's eyes. "What happened to Stella?"

"She's rebooting." The Doctor said checking her over with his sonic, gently holding her up in a sitting position.

"Rebooting?" Tommy asked, but the Doctor didn't answer as the glowing went down and she blinked as she came to taking in a deep breath.

"Where's Magpie?" Stella asked right away.

"Gone." The Doctor said before they all jumped to their feet darting out of the store looking around desperately for any sign of Magpie and Wire in the street.

"We don't even know where to start looking. It's too late." Tommy bemoaned.

"It's never too late, as a wise person once said." The Doctor replied them muttered to himself. "Kylie, I think." Then he turned to the others. "The Wire's got big plans. It'll need….yes, yes, yes, it's got to harvest half the population. Millions and millions of people and where are we?"

"Muswell Hill." Tommy answered.

"Muswell Hill. Muswell Hill! Which means Alexandra Palace, biggest TV transmitter in North London." Stella said in realization.

"Oh, that's why it chose this place." The Doctor agreed. "Tommy?"

"What are you going to do?" Tommy asked.

"We're going shopping." The Doctor said running back into the shop along with Tommy and Stella.

They started raiding all of the electronics taking them apart to build the Doctor's device. They piled them up on counter and were looking for the final piece, which Tommy found, holding up a light bulb.

"Is this what you want?" Tommy asked.

"Perfect!" The Doctor said grabbing it adding it to the pile. "Right, I need one more thing." He picked up the pile and shoved it into Tommy's hands then ran outside. The Doctor ran into his Tardis then came back out with some wires meeting Tommy and Stella who were waiting outside. "Got it. Let's go."

The Doctor and Stella were building the contraption while he Stella and Tommy ran through the streets. They finally made it to the TV transmitter with less time than they would like to spare, but the device was completed.

"There!" Tommy spotted Magpie on the tower.

"Come on!" The Doctor urged them on, but a guard stopped them.

"Wait, wait, wait! Where do you think…" The guard tried, but the Doctor showed him the psychic paper not even pausing in their run. "Oh! I'm very sorry, sir, ma'am. Shouldn't you both be at the Coronation?"

"They're saving us a seat." Stella replied as they brushed past.

"Who did he think you were?" Tommy asked.

"King and Queen of Belgium, apparently." The Doctor glanced at the paper.

"Really?!" Tommy asked.

"Honey, you should see me in a crown." Stella grinned as they ran into the building and into a control room. The Doctor and Stella quickly started to work the controls, hooking up their machine.

"Keep this switched on. Don't let anyone stop you, Tommy. Everything depends on it. You understand?" The Doctor demanded as he took a coil of copper wire. Tommy nodded as the Doctor and Stella ran out of the room.

"Good luck." Stella called out. Stella and the Doctor ran to the transmitter running past the guard again as they made their way up.

"You'll get yourself killed up there! You're Majesties!" The guard called out, but was promptly ignored.

"Stella…" The Doctor looked to her.

"I'm coming up with you, live with it." Stella cut him off as she rapidly ascended the transmitter. "And you better keep your eyes forward."

"I'll do my best." The Doctor grinned cheekily with a bit of a smile following her and was soon climbing up beside her. They reached the top of the transmitter mast where Magpie had already plugged in the Wire who was feasting on the world.

"It's too late! It's too late for all of us!" Magpie called out over the wind, clinging to the transmitter.

"I shall consume you, Doctor and you as well Stella." The Wire grinned as red electricity started to dance around the tower.

"I won't let you do this, Magpie!" The Doctor called out.

"Help me, Doctor. It burns. It took my face, my soul." Magpie cried out.

"You cannot stop the Wire. Soon I shall become manifest." The Wire cheered.

"No more of this. You promised me peace!" Magpie cried.

"And peace you shall have." The wire blasted him with red electricity turning him to dust.

"Been burning the candle at both ends? You've overextended yourself, Missis. You shouldn't have had a crack at poor old Magpie there." The Doctor tried to grab the TV, but was shocked by Wire.

"Yeah, well see if that works with me." Stella grabbed the box holding it out to the Doctor without being electrocuted. The Wire tried to zap the Doctor since it wasn't working on Stella, but it didn't work this time.

"Rubber soles, swear by them!" The Doctor said as he plugged in his cable, but nothing happened.

"Oh dear. Has our little plan gone horribly wrong?" Wire grinned, but then suddenly the red energy retreated back to the mast, and into the portable television.

"There we go." Stella cheered.

"No!" Wire moaned and cried out in anger and pain.

"It's close down, I'm afraid, and no epilogue." The Doctor said as the Wire screamed, and then the screen went blank. The Doctor and Stella looked to each other breathing hard before laughing in their success.

"I always have so much fun with you." Stella said as they made their way down the tower, the Doctor reaching the ground before her which was lucky as Stella slipped falling back. The impact wouldn't have hurt her, but the Doctor didn't know that as his arms shot out catching her in a sort of dip. Both of them paused for a moment, the Doctor's arms around her waist a Stella's around his neck. "Nice catch, thanks."

"Anytime." The Doctor grinned setting her back on her feet, both of them sporting a slight blush. "We better go check on Tommy."

"Right." Stella nodded as they made their way back to the control room.

"What have I missed?" The Doctor asked as he leaned against the door frame.

"Doctor! Stella! What happened?" Tommy asked.

"Sorted. Electrical creature, TV technology, clever alien life form." The Doctor said. "That's me by the way." Stella coughed non to subltly. "Alright, that's me and Stella."

"Thank you." Stella grinned.

"Anyway, turned the receiver back into a transmitter and trapped the Wire in here." The Doctor explained gesturing to their machine.

"With some help of course." Stella said clapping Tommy on the back.

"Of course." The Doctor agreed as he went over to his contraption which turned out to be a VCR. "Just invented the home video thirty years early. Betamax." Then he saw the coronation on the screen, Queen Elizabeth the second waving to the crowd from the balcony. "Oh, look. God save the Queen, eh?"

-0-

The Doctor and Stella took Tommy back to where they had been holding the faceless. They now all had their faces back and were standing outside where they had been released.

"Oh, it's my grandson, Oh, son!" Gran and Tommy embraced happily.

The Doctor spotted Rose the same time she spotted him and they ran for each other meeting in a tight hug as Stella watched. Once they had had their moment Stella walked over sharing in their happiness that Rose was safe. Everyone was so happy to have their loved one's back that the street party was in a full swing celebration. Some were dancing; others were eating, and just having a great time celebrating their new queen and their families reunited.

"Now this is what I had in mind when I came to this time." Stella said as she danced a little as they walked.

"We could go down the Mall, join in with the crowds." Rose said looking around.

"Nah, that's just pomp and circumstance." The Doctor shook his head grabbing some cake. "This is history right here."

"The domestic approach." Rose said causing them to laugh.

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded.

"Will it, that thing, is it trapped for good on video?" Rose asked, growing concerned.

"Hope so. Just to be on the safe side though, I'll use my unrivalled knowledge of trans-temporal extirpation methods to neutralize the residual electronic pattern." The Doctor rattled off.

"You what?" Rose asked in confusion.

"He's going to tape over it." Stella answered.

"Just leave it to me. I'm always doing that." Rose said as they came up to Tommy.

"Tell you what, Tommy, you can have the scooter. Little present. Best, er, keep it in the garage for a few years though, eh?" The Doctor said leaning against the table. All of them looking up to see Eddie leaving the house in his overcoat, a suitcase in hand.

"Good riddance." Tommy said stiffly as Rita and her mother hugged while Eddie walked off.

"Is that it, then, Tommy? New monarch, new age, new world. No room for a man like Eddie Connelly." The Doctor said eyeing Tommy.

"That's right. He deserves it." Tommy said, though there were tears in his eyes.

"Tommy, go after him." Rose said.

"What for?" Tommy asked.

"He's your dad." Rose replied.

"He's an idiot." Tommy said.

"Of course he is. Like I said, he's your dad. But you're clever. Clever enough to save the world so don't stop there. Go on." Rose nudged him forward. Eddie ran over to his father and carried his suitcase for him as they made their way down the street. The Doctor handed Stella and Rose a glass of orange and they drank a toast. Then Rose noticed Stella's manipulator blinking. "Should that be doing that?"

"Crud, got to run." Stella downed the rest of her drink.

"Already?" The Doctor asked a little disappointed.

"Yeah, promised Jack I'd meet him for dinner after the coronation." Stella said hugging Rose then the Doctor, the Doctor prolonging the hug a little longer than what was necessary. "It was great to see you both again."

"Will we see each other again?" The Doctor asked.

"Of course, I still plan on traveling in that Tardis of yours someday." Stella replied with a wink before walking over to her bike and mounting it. "Catch you later."

Stella revved here engine taking out and sharply turning a corner out of sight followed by a flash of light, the sound of the motorcycle cutting off abruptly. Rose glanced over to the Doctor, raising an eyebrow when she saw him still starring to where Stella had left.

"Doctor?" Rose gained his attention.

"Yeah?" He took his gaze form the corner to Rose.

"Do you like Stella, I mean like, like her." Rose said as she bit her tongue, trying to hide her nerves. What would she do if he said yes?

"What?! No, of course not, she's just a….she's…a friend." The Doctor said quickly having to search for the word to describe the young woman he had only met three times before this meeting. She was interesting he had to admit and she had been on his mind from the time of their first meeting, but the kind of like Rose was talking about…he wasn't sure, then there were his feelings for Rose.


	6. Chapter 6

A young man was playing a lute as the moon rose into the sky and serenading a woman who was leaning out of an upstairs window.

"Her face was like a winter's moon that lights the traveller's way. Her smile was like a summer bloom that bursts then fades away. My love is night, my love is day. My love she is my world." The Young man called Wiggins sung sweetly.

"Such sweet music shows your blood to be afire." Lilith said seductively. "Why wait we on stale custom for consummation?"

"Oh, yes. Tonight's the night." Wiggins said in excitement as he ran into the house and up the stairs. Lilith peeked around a curtain with a smirk.

"Would you enter, bold sir?" Lilith asked biting her lip.

"Oh, I would." He replied and ran in and began to look around his face falling. The room had an assortment of herbs and things hanging from appropriate places. Voodoo masks, a smoking cauldron, and other strange artifacts decorated the room. "Lilith, this cannot be the home of one so beautiful. Forgive me, this is foul."

"Shush." Lilith places her fingers against his lips. "Sad words suit not upon a lover's tongue." She kisses him soundly and his fears are for the moment forgotten. When they pull away her face turns changes to one with a hooked nose and deep lines, and pointed teeth, and her voice is higher pitched. "Oh, your kiss transformed me. A suitor should meet his beloved's parents. Mother Doomfinger?" A sour-faced old woman stands up behind Wiggins. "And Mother Bloodtide." Another woman jumps down from a rafter, cackling. They all pounce upon Wiggins tearing him apart as he screams and the sounds of his body being consumed feel the room. "Soon, at the hour of woven words, we shall rise again, and this fleeting Earth will perish! Bwahahahahahaha!"

-0-

The Tardis is bucking wildly as the Doctor runs around the console pulling on levers hitting buttons and doing a bunch of other crazy things while Martha is hanging on to the console for dear life.

"But how do you travel in time? What makes it go?" Martha yelled over the sound of the Tardis.

"Oh, let's take the fun and mystery out of everything." The Doctor shouted as he continued to manipulate the controls. "Martha, you don't want to know. It just does. Hold on tight."

The Tardis comes to a jarring halt, and Martha falls to the floor.

"Blimey. Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?" Martha asked as she stood up.

"Yes, and I failed it." The Doctor said as he grabbed his trench coat and her jacket throwing it to her and ran to the doors. "Now, make the most of it. I promised you one trip, and one trip only. Outside this door, brave new world."

"Where are we?" Martha asked in excitement.

"Take a look." The Doctor nodded to the doors. "After you."

Martha bit her lip as she opened the doors and stepped out.

"Oh, you are kidding me. You are so kidding me. Oh, my God, we did it. We travelled in time. Where are we?" Martha asked as they came out of the TARDIS all grins. "No, sorry. I got to get used to this whole new language. When are we? "

"Mind out." The Doctor pulls Martha back as a man empties his slop bucket from an upstairs window.

"Gardez l'eau!" The man yelled.

"Somewhere before the invention of the toilet. Sorry about that." The Doctor said.

"I've seen worse. I've worked the late night shift A+E. But are we safe? I mean, can we move around and stuff?" Martha asked as she followed the Doctor down the street.

"Of course we can. Why do you ask?" The Doctor asked.

"It's like in the films. You step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race." Martha pointed out.

"Tell you what then, don't step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you?" The Doctor asked looking offended.

"What if, I don't know, what if I kill my grandfather?" Martha asked.

"Are you planning to?" The Doctor asked.

"No." Martha said shaking her head.

"Well, then." The Doctor said.

"And this is London?" Martha asked.

"I think so. Round about 1599." The Doctor said looking around.

"Oh, but hold on. Am I all right? I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?" Martha asked.

"Why would they do that?" The Doctor asked curious.

"Not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed." Martha said pointing to her face.

"I'm not even human. Just walk about like you own the place. Works for me. Besides, you'd be surprised. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. Look over there. They've got recycling." A man shovels horse manure into a bucket. "Water cooler moment." Two men talking at a water barrel.

"And the world will be consumed by flame." A preacher shouted.

"Global warming." The Doctor said then pointed to Stella. "And there's Stella throwing a tantrum."

"Wait, what?" Martha said following his now astonished gaze to Stella who was starring angrily down at the ruined smoking Manipulator. She had used the manipulator to get to this time period at Boe's suggestion and seemed to have fried it.

She let out an irritated growl before stuffing her hands into the pocket of her coal grey duster and glancing around herself. Under that she wore a long sleeved thin green scooped neck sweater, a thin black belt, a dark olive green scarf, and a pair of dark skinny jeans that tucked into knee high heelless black boots. She ran an irritated hand through her wavy brown hair with lighter shades of brown running through it and her vibrant light blue eyes closed momentarily in frustration.

Mumbling to herself before taking a deep breath opening her eyes followed by a resigned sigh she shrugged to herself and started to walk down the street.

"How did she get here?" Martha asked.

"Vortex Manipulator that seems to have malfunctioned." The Doctor said as he started to follow her. She weaved through the crowd who paid her about as much attention as they paid the Doctor and Martha as they walked along behind her.

"If you know her, why don't you go say hi?" Martha asked.

"I don't know if she knows me yet. We've only met four times." The Doctor replied with a smile as Stella glanced around and a large grin lit up her face, her pace quickening.

"Where is she going?" Martha asked looking after the strange girl

"The same place we are, oh, yes, entertainment, popular entertainment for the masses. If I'm right, we're just down the river by Southwark, right next to…" The Doctor gets Martha to run along behind the girl. "The south end of old London Bridge, past St Mary Ovarie - Southwark Cathedral. Oh, yes, the Globe Theatre! Brand new, just opened. Through, strictly speaking, it's not a globe, it's a tetradecagon. Fourteen sides, containing the man himself."

"Whoa, you don't mean. Is Shakespeare in there?" Martha asked.

"Oh, yes. Miss Jones, will you accompany me to the theatre?" The Doctor asked offering his arm.

"What about the girl, Stella?" Martha asked looking over to Stella as she jumped up and down clapping her hands together in excitement then ran into the theatre.

"She seems to be here to see the show as well." The Doctor said as they to walk into the theatre keeping an eye on Stella.

"Then Mister Smith, I would love to join you." Martha said looping her arm with his as they walked into the theatre.

"When you get home, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare." The Doctor said.

"Then I could get sectioned." Martha said sarcastically.

-0-

Stella clapped and whistled enthusiastically when the play ended not realizing that all the while she had been under the watchful gaze of the Doctor. It was worth being potentially stuck on the slow path just to see this. The audience of about three thousand were applauding the actors as they took their final bows. The Doctor and Martha had been watching with the rest of the ordinary folk in the pit also clapping along with the rest.

"That's amazing! Just amazing. It's worth putting up with the smell. And those are men dressed as women, yeah?" Martha asked as they clapped.

"London never changes." The Doctor grinned.

"Where's Shakespeare? I want to see Shakespeare. Author! Author!" Martha called out then realized something. "Do people shout that? Do they shout Author?"

"Author! Author!" The crowd took up the chant.

Stella jerked upon hearing the phrase and looked to the source spotting the Doctor and Martha her jaw dropping in shock. The crowd was too thick to get through at the moment so she would have to stay put until she got the chance to move.

"Well, they do now." The Doctor said as Shakespeare came onto the stage, very full of himself, to rapturous applause.

"He's a bit different from his portraits." Martha said.

Lilith who was dressed like an aristocrat, and sitting alone in one of the upper boxes watches Shakespeare with a smirk as she takes a rough doll with a strand of hair stuck to its head from her purse.

"Genius. He's a genius. The genius. The most human human there's ever been. Now we're going to hear him speak. Always he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words." The Doctor said with a large grin.

"Ah, shut your big fat mouths!" Shakespeare yelled out causing a bout of laughter. Stella starred up at the great author wide eyed in shock before letting out a laugh. Somehow she had expected something more eloquent than that.

"Oh, well." The Doctor said a little disappointed.

"You should never meet your heroes." Martha said sympathetically.

"You've got excellent taste, I'll give you that. Oh, that's a wig." Shakespeare pointed into the crowd. Lilith wound the hair of her doll around her finger as she spoke.

"Wind the craft of ancient harm. The time approaches for our charm." She chanted.

"I know what you're all saying. Love's Labor's Lost, that's a funny ending, isn't it? It just stops." Shakespeare said. "Will the boys get the girls? Well, don't get your hose in a tangle, you'll find out soon, yeah, yeah, all in good time. You don't rush a genius." Lilith kisses the doll and Shakespeare suddenly went rigid. "When? Tomorrow night, the premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it Loves Labor's Won."

Stella eyed Shakespeare for a moment who was shaking his head in confusion like he had just come out of a trance before following the crowd out.

"I'm not an expert, but I've never heard of Loves Labor's Won." Martha said neither of them noticing Stella following close behind them.

"Exactly, the lost play, it doesn't exist, only in rumors. It's mentioned in lists of his plays but never ever turns up and no one knows why." The Doctor said with a shrug.

"Have you got a mini-disc or something? We can tape it. We can flog it. Sell it when we get home and make a mint." Martha said in excitement neither of them noticing Stella sneaking up behind them.

"No." The Doctor replied sternly.

"That would be bad." Martha said.

"Yeah, yeah." The Doctor replied nodding his head his eyes wide in an almost comical way.

"Well, how come it disappeared in the first place?" Martha asked.

"Well, I was just going to give you a quick little trip in the Tardis, but I suppose we could stay a bit longer." The Doctor said.

"What does Tardis stand for? I never thought to ask before." Stella said casually falling into step beside the Doctor.

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space." The Doctor answered automatically before he realized who he was talking to and startled a bit at her sudden appearance. "Stella!"

"Doctor!" Stella smiled as they hugged each other tightly. "How have you been?"

"Fine, I've been fine." The Doctor replied with a shrug.

"Where's Rose?" Stella asked and instantly the Doctor's face fell. "Doctor?"

"She's safe, she's alive, but she was trapped in another dimension with her mother and father." The Doctor said briefly explaining what had happened.

"Oh, Doctor, I'm so sorry." Stella pulled him into another hug.

"And how did you get here Stella?" The Doctor asked pulling back and pointedly changing the subject.

"I got here by accident…no that's not true…I meant to come here did not mean to get stuck here." She said as she took off her ruined manipulator now useless and tossed it to the Doctor who caught it.

"I always meant to ask how you got this." The Doctor said as he looked it over.

"It was given to me actually, by Boe." Stella replied. "But now I am stuck her unless…"

"Unless?" The Doctor echoed handing her back the manipulator as Stella trained her best puppy dog eyes on him.

"Any chance I can bum a ride with you in your Tardis?" Stella asked batting her eyes over dramatically.

"Oh course Stella, wouldn't dream of leaving you out here." The Doctor ruffled her hair. She quickly slapped his hands away with a frustrated look.

"Would you stop doing that?" Stella grumbled as she smoothed her hair back down.

"Probably not." The Doctor grinned cheekily, before turning serious. "Did you notice something with Shakespeare?"

"So you saw that as well." Stella said looking to the Doctor. "I was going to go check it out when you two caught my attention."

"Well there's no time like the present, come on." The Doctor said pulling Stella and Martha along.

"Shouldn't you introduce me to your new friend first?" Stella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh right, sorry, this is Martha Jones, I'm taking her on a thank you trip." The Doctor said as they walked up to a two story building. "Martha, this is Stella Quinn."

"Nice to meet you Martha Jones." Stella said with a large smile.

"You as well." Martha smiled.

"So what harrowing adventure occurred to allow you and the Doctor to meet up?" Stella asked and Martha told her all about the hospital on the moon as they walked into a tavern call the Elephant and up the stairs.

-0-

"Here you go, Will. Drink up. There's enough beer in this lodgings house to sink the Spanish." Dolly said as she passed out the drinks.

"Dolly Bailey, you've saved my life." Shakespeare said with a large smile taking the mug.

"I'll do more than that later tonight." Dolly said with a sly wink before turning to a serving girl. "And you, girl, hurry up with your tasks. The talk of gentlemen is best not overheard."

"Yes, ma'am. Sorry, ma'am." Lilith nodded, but made no move to leave immediately.

"You must be mad, Will. Love's Labor's Won? I mean, we're not ready. It's supposed to be next week. What made you say that?" Burbage asked.

"You haven't even finished it yet."Kempe added.

"I've just got the final scene to go. You'll get it by morning." Shakespeare assured them just as the Doctor stuck his head in the door.

"Hello! Excuse me, not interrupting, am I? Mister Shakespeare, isn't it?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, no. No, no, no. Who let you in? No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove…" Shakespeare stopped short when he spotted Martha who was peeking out from behind the Doctor along with Stella who was behind her. "Hey, nonny nonny. Sit right down here next to me." Shakespeare said to Martha and Stella before waving off the other two men. "You two get sewing on them costumes. Off you go."

"Come on, lads. I think our William's found his new muses." Dolly said as they all walked out.

"Sweet ladies." Shakespeare said charmingly. Martha blushed with a large smile before taking her seat followed by Stella who just smirked with a wink and the Doctor who was focused on Will, looking for whatever might have affected him earlier. "Such unusual clothes. So fitted."

"Er, verily, forsooth, egads." Martha said grasping for words.

"No, no, don't do that. Don't." The Doctor said shaking his head at Martha. The Doctor took out a black wallet and showed Shakespeare his psychic paper.

"I'm Sir Doctor of Tardis and these are my companions, Miss Martha Jones and Miss Stella Quinn." The Doctor introduced them.

"Stella, a name meaning star, and you my dear are quite the heavenly body." Shakespeare said.

"Why thank you William, I like yours as well." Stella said flirtatiously, Shakespeare sending her a coy smile before looking at the paper.

"Interesting, that bit of paper. It's blank." Shakespeare said nodding to the paper.

"Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius." The Doctor said as Martha looked at the paper.

"No, it says so right there. Sir Doctor, Martha Jones, Stella Quinn. It says so." Martha said pointing to the paper as Hero leaned over looking at the paper as well.

"And I say it's blank." Shakespeare said as Stella nodded.

"He's right, there's nothing there." Stella said looking at the paper. This got the Doctor's attention briefly, but he stored it away for later thought.

"It's Psychic paper. Er, long story. Oh, I hate starting from scratch." The Doctor said tiredly.

"Psychic paper shows a person what you want them to see." Stella said looking to the Doctor for confirmation.

"That's right." He said with a nod. "You're a smart one."

"Well we never really had time to get to know each other the last four times we met, it was all running and thwarting evil. There is quite a lot to me other than my pretty face." Stella replied batting her eyes exaggeratedly with a large smile.

"Psychic? Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly?" Shakespeare asked then looked to Martha and Stella again. "More's the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady and sapphire eyed beauty?"

"What did you say?" Martha asked as Stella tried to stifle a giggle.

"Oops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays?" Shakespeare asked. "An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this." Martha said shaking her head.

"It's political correctness gone mad." The Doctor said.

"It's brilliant." Stella said with a laugh.

"Er, Martha's from a far-off land." The Doctor said and tried to come up with a name.

"Freedonia." Stella said easily. "It is a small land, regularly over looked by a vast majority of the world, self-sustaining."

"And you live there as well?" Shakespeare asked.

"I do." Stella said with a nod. "It is a beautiful land, my home."

Stella was ready to go on with more, but a man in expensive clothes and wearing a gold chain of office enters cutting her off. He is the official censor, from the Lord Chamberlain's office.

"Excuse me! Hold hard a moment. This is abominable behavior. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed." The Censor said pompously.

"Tomorrow morning, first thing, I'll send it round." Shakespeare replied dismissively.

"I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script, now!" The Censor ordered.

"I can't." Shakespeare argued.

"Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled." The Censor said as Lilith leaves quietly.

"It's all go around here, isn't it?" Martha said.

"I'm returning to my office for a banning order. If it's the last thing I do, Love's Labor's Won will never be played." Lynley leaves and goes down the stairs.

"What a ball of sunshine that one is." Stella said sarcastically as Lynley leaves and goes down the stairs. To the taverns courtyard and Lynley bumps into Lilith coming up the stairs.

"Oh, sorry, sir. Begging your pardon, sir. Mind you don't hurt that handsome head of yours." Lilith said as she strokes his hair.

"Hold hard, wanton woman!" Lynley ordered with a stern look as he glanced around then continued in a sotto voice. "I shall return later."

Lynley leaves and when he is out of sight Lilith holds up a lock of his hair then runs up to a quiet corner and gets out her doll.

"Oh, my mothers, there's one seeks to stop the performance tomorrow." Lilith said as she hides behind a barrel in front of a bucket of water.

"But it must be tomorrow!" Doomfinger said.

"Love's Labors Won must be performed." Bloodtide said as Lilith changes the hair in the doll.

"Fear not. Chant with me." Lilith said talking a deep breath. "Water damps the fiercest flame."

"Drowns down girls and boys the same." The Mothers chanted with her. Lilith dunked the doll into a pail of water. Walking along, Lynley suddenly clutches his throat and sways.

"Well then, mystery solved. That's Love's Labor's Won over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious." Martha said with a shrug taking a swig from a mug. Suddenly Stella sat up straight her eyes wide. "What's wrong?"

A man's scream comes from the street, and then a woman's startling them all into action. They rush out to investigate coming out into the courtyard where the censor is staggering around the courtyard clutching his throat.

"Help me!" A woman screamed as Lynley staggers back in, spewing copious amounts of water.

"It's that Lynley bloke." Martha said rushing over to the man with the others.

"What's wrong with him?" The Docrtor asked more to himself than anyone else. "Leave it to me. I'm a doctor."

"So am I, near enough." Martha said as Lynley collapses.

Lilith takes the doll out of the water.

"Now to halt the vital part. Stab the flesh…" The Mothers said.

"And stop the heart." Lilith finishes as she stabs the doll with a pin. "Eternal sleep is thine."

She pulls the doll's head off with a smirk and Lynley falls to the ground.

"Got to get the heart going. Mister Lynley, come on. Can you hear me? You're going to be all right." Martha starts to clear Lynley's airways for CPR, and water gushes out. The Doctor and Stella are kneeling on the other side of the censor looking on in shock.

"What the hell is that?" Martha asked.

"I've never seen a death like it. His lungs are full of water. He drowned and then, I don't know, like a blow to the heart, an invisible blow." The Doctor said looking over the body as Lilith watches from the side. "Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away."

"Yes, sir." Dolly said as the Doctor kneeled back down.

"I'll do it, ma'am." Lilith stops her and walks away quickly.

"Nice cover." Stella said as she studied Lynley's face.

"And why are you telling them that?" Martha asked.

"This lot still have got one foot in the Dark Ages. If I tell them the truth, they'll panic and think it was witchcraft." The Doctor explained.

"Okay, what was it then?" Martha asked.

"Witchcraft." The Doctor said before standing up and walking back into the tavern along with the others.

-0-

The three witches stand around their cauldron.

"The potion is prepared. Now take it. Magic words for the playwright's fevered mind." Doomfinger said with a smirk.

"Shakespeare will release us. The mind of a genius will unlock the tide of blood." Bloodtide said looking into the cauldron where Shakespeare appeared.

"Upon this night, the work is done. A muse to pen Love Labor's Won." Lilith said taking a vial of steaming liquid with a smile.

-0-

"I got you a room, Sir Doctor. You Miss Quinn and Miss Jones are just across the landing." Dolly said before she left. Shakespeare walked over and sat back down at is desk as the others remained standing.

"Poor Lynley. So many strange events." Shakespeare said before once again focusing on the girls. "Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?"

"Where a woman can do what she likes." Martha replied leaning forward slightly.

"And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?" Shakespeare asked.

"I do a lot of reading." The Doctor answered.

"And do you do a lot of reading as well Lady Stella?" Shakespeare asked Stella who was looking over the skull dripping with candle wax. Stella smirked slightly before answering looking away from the skull and to Shakespeare.

"Tons." Stella answered.

"A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do." Shakespeare said then looked to Martha. "And you? You look at him like you're surprised he exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me as is Stella to you both."

"I think we should say goodnight." Martha said a she gets up and leaves.

"That sounds like a great idea, night all." Stella said as she followed Martha out.

"I must work. I have a play to complete." Shakespeare said. "But I'll get my answers tomorrow, Doctor, and I'll discover more about you and why this constant performance of yours."

"All the world's a stage." The Doctor said.

"Hmm. I might use that." Shakespeare said thoughtfully. "Goodnight, Doctor."

"Nighty night, Shakespeare." The Doctor said as he to left the room.

-0-

"It's not exactly five star, is it?" Martha said as she looked around the room holding a candle in her hand.

"Oh, it'll do. I've seen worse." The Doctor said looking over to Stella who had opened the window and was staring out of it.

"I haven't even got a toothbrush." Martha said as the Doctor pat down his pockets before pulling out a tooth brush.

"Contains Venusian spearmint." The Doctor said.

"Still the same old Doctor." Stella asked closing the window. "Running around and solving mysteries, saving the day and such."

"More or less." The Doctor said with a shrug. "What about you?"

"I've been working with Jack and his team, going to posh places with Boe, finding new places, meeting new people, and helping where I can, you know, the usual." Stella listed off easily before looking to Martha. "How long have you been traveling with him?"

"First time, I just met him, so this is all new for me." Martha said with a shrug. "So where are you from?"

"Oh, well…" Stella shifted uncomfortably her eyes growing sad before she shook her head. "I don't really come from anywhere, kind of a nomad. So, who's going where?" Stella said changing the subject while the Doctor gave her an empathetic look. "I mean, there's only one bed."

"We'll manage." The Doctor said plopping down on the bed. "Come on."

"So, magic and stuff. That's a surprise. It's all a little bit Harry Potter." Martha commented.

"Wait till you read book seven." The Doctor said with a deep breath. "Oh, I cried."

"But is it real, though? I mean, witches, black magic and all that, it's real?" Martha asked.

"Course it isn't!" The Doctor scoffed.

"Well, how am I supposed to know?" Martha said with a shrug. "I've only just started believing in time travel. Give me a break."

"Looks like witchcraft, but it isn't. Can't be" The Doctor said still thinking it over. "Are you two going to stand there all night?"

"Well aren't we anxious to have two beautiful women climbing into bed with him?" Stella said jokingly as she walked over to the bed throwing her jacket onto a nearby chair and settled down in the middle.

"Well I wouldn't say beautiful." The Doctor joked back earning an elbow jab to his side. "Ow!"

"Budge up a bit, then." Martha said as she climbed in next to Stella. "Sorry, there's not much room, us three here, same bed." Martha said as Stella snuggled down into the bed allowing the other two to talk over her head. "Tongues will wag."

"I know, how lucky can one man get?" Stella joked causing Martha to laugh as Stella closed her eyes with a giggle.

"There's such a thing as psychic energy, but a human couldn't channel it like that." The Doctor said as if he had not heard either of them talking. "Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that. No, there's something I'm missing, Martha." The Doctor said as he turned over on his side facing her briefly glancing down at Stella before looking back up at Martha. "Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it. Just right under my nose." They were staring into each other's eyes. The Doctor without really seeing Martha. "Rose'd know. A friend of mine, Rose. Right now, she'd say exactly the right thing. Still, can't be helped. You're a novice, never mind. I'll take you back home tomorrow and get Stella home as well."

"Great." Martha said tersely before turning over and blowing out the candle, but smiled slightly when she heard the Doctor grunt when Stella jabbed him in the gut.

"Moron." Stella snapped.

"What?!" The Doctor whined rubbing his side.

-0-

Shakespeare is writing with his back to the window. Lilith glides up outside, uncorks the bottle of potion and blows the green vapors towards him. With a susurration of voices, Shakespeare breathes it in and collapses onto his papers. Lilith enters and holds up her doll, now equipped with strings to make it a puppet holding a quill in its hand.

"Bind the mind and take the man. Speed the words to writer's hand." Lilith ordered.

She tugs a string and Shakespeare jerks upright again, then writes without looking at the paper as she jiggles the puppet's arm. Finally Shakespeare writes finis, and slumps again his forehead banging against the table. Lilith reaches forward and strokes his head.

"Will?" Dolly said as she entered with a broom. "Finished cleaning just in time for your special treat. Oh, aye. I'm not the first, then."

Lilith turns round, with her witches face and Dolly gapes in horror at her.

"I'll take that to aid my flight and you shall speak no more this night." Lilith snatches the broom, and Dolly screams.

-0-

Across the way, the Doctor was still awake while Martha slept. He glanced down at Stella before looking back up.

"What happened since last we met Doctor?" Stella asked knowing that he was still awake. "What happened to Rose?"

"I lost her." The Doctor replied and recounted what had occurred during the invasion. Stella had been there, but on the ground saving those that she could while taking out any Dalek's unfortunate enough to cross her or some of the friends she had called in to help. You don't travel through space and time without making some very valuable allies here and there.

"I'm so sorry." Stella said as she took his hand in hers giving it a soft squeeze. The Doctor squeezed it back knowing that if anyone could truly sympathize with his pain it was Stella.

The Doctor opened his mouth to change the subject to what she had been up to lately, but was cut off when Stella sat up suddenly when a scream cut through the air. The Doctor Stella and Martha leapt out of bed and run to the room just as Shakespeare wakes up.

"What? What was that?" Shakespeare asked groggily. Dolly was collapsed on the ground; Stella quickly kneeled down next to her with the Doctor. Martha went to the window her mouth dropping open at the sight of a witch on a broomstick silhouetted against the full moon.

"Her heart gave out. She died of fright." The Doctor said.

"It's the same as the Censor, an invisible blow." Stella said, her brows drawing together.

"Doctor?" Martha said fearfully making Stella and the Doctor run over to her.

"What did you see?" The Doctor demanded.

"A witch." Martha answered.

-0-

Later that same day a cockerel crows and dogs start barking at the rising sun. They were all gathered in Shakespeare's room once again, Dolly's body having been removed.

"Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey. She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place when we all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit." Shakespeare lamented, though the placement of his hands gesturing near his chest when he commented on Dolly's spirit was unfortunate.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light." The Doctor quoted.

"I might use that." Shakespeare said.

"You can't." Stella said shaking her head. "It's someone else's."

"But the thing is, Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright, and they were both connected to you." Martha said thoughtfully.

"You're accusing me?" Shakespeare asked in disbelief.

"No, but I saw a witch, big as you like, flying, cackling away, and you've written about witches." Martha said quickly gesturing to the window.

"I have? When was that?" Shakespeare asked.

"Not, not quite yet." The Doctor said quietly to Martha.

"Peter Streete spoke of witches." Shakespeare said.

"Who's Peter Streete?" Martha asked.

"Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe." Shakespeare answered.

"The architect. Hold on. The architect! The architect! The Globe! Come on!" The Doctor said starting to get excited as he rushed out of the room followed by the others.

-0-

"The columns there, right? Fourteen sides. I've always wondered, but I never asked. Tell me, Will. Why fourteen sides?" The Doctor asked as he walked in the pit in front of the stage while Martha Shakespeare and Rhea watched from the stage.

"It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well." Shakespeare answered.

"Fourteen. Why does that ring a bell? Fourteen." The Doctor said running his hands through his hair making it stick up wildly.

"There's fourteen lines in a sonnet." Martha offered.

"So there is. Good point." The Doctor said with a nod.

"Words and shapes following the same design." Stella added thoughtfully.

"Fourteen lines, fourteen sides, fourteen facets. Oh, my head. Tetradecagon. Think, think, think! Words, letters, numbers, lines!" The Doctor said hitting the top of his head.

"Does he always get worked up like this?" Martha asked.

"Every time I met him so far so yes." Stella replied with a shrug.

"This is just a theatre." Shakespeare said.

"Oh yeah, but a theatre's magic, isn't it? You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis a the right time. Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy. Change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place. But if you exaggerate that." The Doctor said as he rubbed his hands along the stage.

"It's like your police box. Small wooden box with all that power inside." Martha emphasized with her hands.

"Oh. Oh, Martha Jones, I like you." The Doctor said with a grin. "Tell you what, though. Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?"

"You won't get an answer. A month after finishing this place, lost his mind." Shakespeare said regretfully.

"Why? What happened?" Stella asked.

"Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled." Shakespeare answered.

"Where is he now?" The Doctor asked.

"Bedlam." Shakespeare replied.

"What's Bedlam?" Martha asked.

"Bedlam Hospital. The madhouse." Shakespeare said.

"We're going to go there. Right now. Come on." The Doctor said running out of the theatre Stella and Martha hot on his heels.

"Wait! I'm coming with you. I want to witness this at first hand." Shakespeare said as two young men walked into the theatre. Shakespeare hands them the script as he makes for the exit calling out orders over his shoulder. "Ralph, the last scene as promised. Copy it, hand it round, learn it, speak it. Back before curtain up. And remember, kid, project. Eyes and teeth. You never know, the Queen might turn up." Shakespeare turned mumbling the last part under his breath. "As if. She never does."

-0-

"So, tell me of Freedonia, where women can be doctors, writers, actors." Shakespeare said as they walked down a narrow passage between buildings.

"This country's ruled by a woman." Martha pointed out.

"Ah, she's royal. That's God's business." Shakespeare said then went on flirtatiously. "Though you are a royal beauty."

"Whoa, Nelly. I know for a fact you've got a wife in the country." Martha said stopping in front of him.

"But Martha, this is Town." Shakespeare said with a sly look.

"Weren't there two people following us?" Stella asked as she pulled on the Doctor's arm when she noticed they weren't being followed anymore.

"What is it with humans and flirting all the time?" The Doctor said in exasperation.

"I personally like flirting and the relationships that sometimes follow." Stella said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I liked being in love while it lasted, I was even married once upon a time, long ago."

"What happened?" He asked softly as they looked for Martha and Shakespeare, and Stella's face fell.

"There were…problems, the fact that I didn't age being one of them." Stella said bitterly, knowing the Doctor understood.

"And the other?" The Doctor asked, but Stella didn't answer looking away spotting their missing friends not far off.

"There they are." Stella pointed out, the Doctor noticing her evasion of the question, but saying nothing.

"Come on." The Doctor said in exasperation as he ran over to them. "We can all have a good flirt later."

"Is that a promise, Doctor?" Shakespeare said eyeing the Doctor up and down as well as Stella.

"Oh, fifty seven academics just punched the air, now move." The Doctor said and then turned on his heel and began to walk away the others following.

-0-

"Love's Labor's Won. I don't think much of sequels. They're never as good as the original." Burbage said shaking his head.

"Have you seen this last bit? He must have been dozing off when he wrote that. I don't even know what it means." Kempe said looking over the script.

"Yeah? Well, that goes for most of his stuff. Ah, but at least it's my speech. Ah ha! I get center stage." Burbage said with a smile as he took his place on the stage and began to read. "The light of Shadmock's hollow moon doth shine onto a point in space betwixt Dravidian shores…" A wind suddenly blows through the auditorium.

"What was that?" Kempe asked.

"Dravidian shores linear five nine three oh one six…" Burbage went on despite the wind picking up.

"A spirit stirs the ether. But too soon. Too soon." Doomfinger said, the actors visible in the cauldron.)

"Not to fear, my mothers. It is merely a rehearsal of what's to come." Lilith said sharing a smile with her mothers.

"…and strikes the fulsome grove of Rexel Four." Burbage went on. A puff of smoke appeared in midair and turned into a ghastly figure. It howled and screeched gnashing its teeth as it started toward the men.

"By all the saints, it's a spirit. It's a vile shade." Kempe said frozen in terror as it reaches towards them, then atomises with a small screech. "I think we should never speak of this again, else we'll end up in Bedlam ourselves."

-0-

The hospital was a horrible place filled with screaming people in cages that lined the walls reaching out through the bars as they made their way down the hall. One of them reached out grabbing Martha by the collar.

"Doctor!" Martha yelped.

"Hey, let the lady go." The Keeper shouted and raised his arm to strike the prisoner, but Stella reached up stopping his arm and shoving him away with a glare.

"Back off." Stella hissed with a sharp glare.

"What you think you're doing?" The keeper replied as Stella turned to the prisoner.

"Get him off." Martha said struggling in the vice like grip.

"It's ok Martha, he won't hurt you." Stella said softly as she turned to the prisoner and gently took hold of his hand detangling it from Martha's collar.

"That's good, just get him to let go." Martha said just as Stella got the man to let her go.

The Doctor watched as she comfortingly squeezed the prisoners hand before she let go of it. The man starred at her in wonder which wasn't really a shock considering that this was probably the first kindness he had been shown since coming into this place.

"This way then." The keeper said glancing at Stella before leading them away from the cell. The Doctor glanced at Stella who angrily brushed away at her eyes with the back of her hand. "Does my Lord Doctor wish some entertainment while he waits? I'd whip these madmen." The Keeper said jovially. "They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam."

"No, I don't!" The Doctor bit out turning from Stella to face the keeper causing him to flinch.

"Well, wait here, my lords, while I make him decent for the ladies." The Keeper said moving down the hall ahead of them.

"Stella, you alright?" The Doctor asked looking over at her.

"No, this is wrong." Stella said wrapping her arms around herself. There was obviously more to it than what she was going to say, but he let it go. He of all people should know a haunted look when he saw one outside of a mirror.

"So this is what you call a hospital, yeah? Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?" Martha snapped placing a comforting hand on Stella's shoulder.

"Oh, it's all so different in Freedonia." Shakespeare said sarcastically.

"But you're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?" Martha asked.

"I've been mad. I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose." Shakespeare said looking around.

"Mad in what way?" Martha asked.

"You lost your son." The Doctor said.

"My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there." Shakespeare said his eyes downcast.

"I didn't know. I'm sorry." Martha said.

"It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be." Shakespeare said then gained a thoughtful look placing his hand to his mouth. "Oh, that's quite good."

"You should write that down." The Doctor said.

"Maybe not. A bit pretentious?" Shakespeare said with a wince.

"I like it." Stella said with a weak smile. "You should use it."

"Maybe." Will mused.

"This way, my lord!" The Keeper called out and they walked down the hall.

-0-

A hunched figure in rags has his back to them as they enter the filthy cell. Peter didn't face them shaking and mumbling to himself as he lay on the hard cot.

"They can be dangerous, my lord. Don't know their own strength." The Keeper said. Stella let out a low growl and started to move toward the Keeper her hands clenched in tight fists, but a hand on her shoulder from the Doctor stopped her.

"I think it helps if you don't whip them. Now get out!" The Doctor snapped and the keeper left quickly in the face of the Doctors anger and the threat of Stella. The Doctor squeezed Stella's shoulder getting a nod in return that she was fine then walked over to Peter kneeling in front of him talking softly. "Peter? Peter Streete?"

"He's the same as he was. You'll get nothing out of him." Shakespeare said shaking his head.

"Peter?" The Doctor touches Streete's shoulder and he raises his head, staring. Lilith gets a sudden headache.

-0-

"What is this? I must see." Lilith said as she rushed over to the cauldron followed by her mothers. They use the liquid in the cauldron to scry, and see the Doctor with Streete who is now sitting up. "That stranger. He was at the inn with Shakespeare. I thought then he smelt of something new."

"Now he visits the madhouse. The architect." Bloodtide said fearfully. The Doctor puts his fingers on Streete's temples in precise pressure points.

-0-

"Peter, I'm the Doctor. Go into the past. One year ago. Let your mind go back. Back to when everything was fine and shining. Everything that happened in this year since happened to somebody else. It was just a story. A Winter's Tale. Let go. That's it. That's it, just let go." The Doctor said softly as he lies Streete down on his cot. "Tell me the story, Peter. Tell me about the witches."

-0-

"Who is this Doctor? Why does he come now at our time of glory?" Lilith questioned the turned to her mother. "Doomfinger, transport yourself. Doom the Doctor. Doom his hide."

The witch cackles gleefully and leaves as the others turn back to the cauldron.

-0-

"Witches spoke to Peter. In the night, they whispered. They whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. Their design! The fourteen walls. Always fourteen." Peter said nervously. "When the work was done they snapped poor Peter's wits."

"Where did Peter see the witches? Where in the city? Peter, tell me. You've got to tell me where were they?" The Doctor questioned.

"All Hallows Street." Peter stuttered out.

"Too many words." Doomfinger said appearing suddenly next to the Doctor who quickly backed away.

"What the hell?" Martha said in fear as Stella pushed Martha and Shakespeare behind herself.

"Just one touch of the heart." Doomfinger said as she reached toward Peter.

"No!" The Doctor and Stella shouted.

Stella grabbed Peter pulling him off the cot before Doomfinger could touch him pushing him behind her with Shakespeare and Martha. He clung to the back of her coat hiding behind her with a childlike whimper, shaking hard.

"It's ok Peter, I'll protect you." Stella said glaring at the witch.

"Witch! I'm seeing a witch!" Shakespeare said in both shock and amazement.

"Just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor, fragile mortals." Doomfinger said in fake empathy.

"Let us out! Let us out!" Martha yelled pulling on the bars.

"That's not going to work. The whole building's shouting that." The Doctor said starring the witch down.

"Who will die first, hmm?" Doomfinger asked.

"Well, if you're looking for volunteers." The Doctor said stepping forward.

"No! Don't!" Martha called out.

"Doctor, can you stop her?" Shakespeare asked as he held Martha back.

"No mortal has power over me." Doomfinger said.

"Oh, but there's a power in words. If I can find the right one. If I can just know you." The Doctor said thoughtfully.

"None on Earth has knowledge of us." Doomfinger said.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now think, think, think. Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy." The Doctor said, rambling on as he thought it all out. Doomfinger lunged at him, but Stella stepped in front of him grabbing her hand. "Stella!"

"Don't even think about it hag." Stella ground out tightening her hold.

"This is not possible, you should be dead." Doomfinger said struggling to be released. "No mortal can do this."

"I am no mortal." Stella hissed lowly as tightened her grip causing Doomfinger to writhe in agony as her bones ground together, snapping slowly. Then Stella called over her shoulder as the witch struggled in her grasp ignoring the burning in her hand. "Hurry it up Doctor."

"Right! Ah! Fourteen! That's it! Fourteen! The fourteen stars of the Rexel planetary configuration!" The Doctor said triumphantly. "Creature, I name you Carrionite!

Doomfinger screamed and vanished in a slow flash of light.

"Owie,owie, owie!" Stella stepped back shaking her smoking hand.

"What did you do?" Martha asked.

"I named her. The power of a name. That's old magic." The Doctor said taking Stella's hand in his and looked it over. There was a burn across her palm that was red fringed in black and some of her hands circuitry now visible. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine, whatever she had planned to use doesn't affect me much it seems." Stella said as she Doctor took out some purple gauze and wrapped it round her hand before Shakespeare could see it.

"You mean you grabbed her no knowing what was going to happen to you?" Shakespeare asked.

"She was going after the Doctor and he's my friend, so yes, I did." Stella replied as the Doctor tied of the gauze which soothed her hand. "Thanks."

"No problem." The Doctor glanced at Stella letting go of her hand after the bandage was secure. "That was dangerous what you did."

"Yeah, well that's me all over, acting before thinking." Stella shrugged as she flexed her hand, making sure nothing had been too badly damaged.

"But there's no such thing as magic." Martha said.

"Well, it's just a different sort of science." The Doctor explained. "You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead."

"Use them for what?" Shakespeare said.

"The end of the world." Stella said with a dark look as she wrapped her arm around Peter who was still shaking in fear. He gripped her jacket burying his face in her shoulder.

"Are you ready to leave my lords and ladies?" The Keeper asked when he returned.

"We are." The Doctor said as the Keeper unlocked the door. Martha and Shakespeare quickly left the cell followed by the Doctor Stella and Peter who was still with her.

"Oi, back in your cell!" The keeper yelled at Peter making to strike him. Peter once again ducked behind Stella who grabbed the whip out of the Keepers hand.

"We are taking him with us." Stella snapped throwing the whip away.

"You can't do that." The Keeper said.

"Watch me." Stella ground out once again wrapping her arm around Stella and leading him out of the building.

-0-

Doomfinger stumbled back to the others gasping for breath and in pain.

"He knows us. He spoke our name." Doomfinger said then held up her broken hand. "And the woman resisted my powers. My hand is useless now."

"Then they will know death. They will perish at my hand." Lilith said confidently. "My mothers, the time approaches. You must away to the Globe. Go. I will join you as soon as this Doctor screams his last."

-0-

Peter smiled brightly as soon as he was in the fresh air, and the feel of sunlight.

"What are you going to do with him?" Shakespeare asked.

"I know a nice man who will take care of him from now on." Stella answered looking pointedly back at him.

"Me?" He asked pointing to himself with a sharp laugh.

"Oh yes, you." Stella said with a dark glare.

"It would be my honor." Shakespeare said wilting under her glare.

"Good choice." Stella said brightly as Peter pulled her along to where some dandelion flowers had grown on the side of the road. He picked them and gave them to Stella who smiled as she took them gently in hand, lifting them up to her nose inhaling the scent.

"Your friend is quit caring." Shakespeare commented.

"Yes, she is." The Doctor watched with a smile as Stella placed the flowers in her hair, much to Peter's delight. She then took off her thick scarf of deep olive green and placed it round Peter's neck who's smile widened as he reverently touched the gift. In the times he had met her she had shown that she was more than willing to put herself in danger for the sake of another.

"It's a shame what those things did to him." Martha commented sadly. "What are they anyway?"

"They're Carrionites, disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend." The Doctor said as they walked.

"Well, I'm going for real." Shakespeare said.

"But what do they want?" Martha asked.

"A new empire on Earth." The Doctor answered. "A world of bones and blood and witchcraft."

"But how?" Martha asked.

"I'm looking at the man with the words." The Doctor said looking to Shakespeare.

"Me? But I've done nothing." Shakespeare said in his defense.

"Hold on, though." Stella who had rejoined them along with Peter still holding his hand said looking over to Shakespeare as well. "What were you doing last night, when that Carrionite was in the room?"

"Finishing the play." Shakespeare answered.

"What happens on the last page?" The Doctor asked.

"The boys get the girls. They have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual." Shakespeare answered then looked troubled. "Except those last few lines. Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them."

"That's it. They used you. They gave you the final words like a spell, like a code. Love's Labours Won. It's a weapon. The right combination of words, spoken at the right place, with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! The play's the thing!" The Doctor said getting excited. "And yes, you can have that."

They all take off back to the Elephant as fast as they can.

-0-

"We left the lovers of Navarre by cruel chance separated, none to claim his heart, their labours lost. Now will they find Love's Labour's Won?" The play has begun and Doomfinger and Bloodtide are sitting in an upper box watching.

-0-

The Doctor looked at a hopelessly inaccurate map, and points to one of the three marked streets while Stella placed Peter in the room they had used the previous night after he had been given a bath by Jake, one of the kinder workers of the inn.

"All Hallows Street. There it is. Martha, Stella, and I, we'll track them down. Will, you get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop that play." The Doctor ordered.

"I'll do it. All these years I've been the cleverest man around. Next to you, I know nothing." Shakespeare said enthusiastically.

"Oh, don't complain." Martha said.

"I'm not. It's marvelous." Shakespeare said. "Good luck, Doctor."

"Good luck, Shakespeare." The Doctor said as they made their way out.

"Once more unto the breach." The Doctor said.

"I like that." Shakespeare said then realized. "Wait a minute, that's one of mine."

"Oh, just shift!" The Doctor said poking his head back in the door then leaving once again. He quickly made his way to the room they had used where he found Stella sitting on the edge of the bed softly singing Peter to sleep as she carded her fingers through his now clean hair. For a moment the Doctor found himself wrapped up in her warm voice as she sang "Once Upon a Dream". She had a beautiful voice that he would have loved to hear more of, but they needed to go. "Stella."

Stella looked to the door when her name was called quietly and saw the Doctor. She carefully got up making sure that Peter was tucked in snugly and left the room, leaving a candle acting as a nightlight for Peter behind.

"Did you find them?" Stella asked closing the door softly.

"Yeah, we need to go now." The Doctor said.

"Right." Stella said following him down. She only paused for a moment to tell a kind maid, Jake's wife Cora, to keep an eye on Peter. They had inherited the White Elephant from Dolly and promised to help William look over Peter.

"Why are you taking such care of Peter?" Martha asked as Stella and the Doctor joined then walked out onto the streets. "I don't mean it in a rude way or anything, but…"

"Once a long time ago I was kidnapped and held captive on a ship where they changed me into this, but I wasn't the only one, there were many others screaming and begging for release." Stella told them then realized they didn't know about her past, Martha didn't even know what she was.

"What do you mean, changed you?" Martha asked looking over the very human looking girl.

"Martha, I'm a cyborg." Stella looked to her, the girls face showing her shock. "They replaced a vast majority of my organic parts with inorganic parts and the ones they didn't replace they enhanced."

"A cyborg? A real proper cyborg?" Martha said in shock as Stella nodded. "But you look so…"

"Human? Yeah, this ring hides my cyborg parts." Stella held up her hand showing off her ring, a simple gold band engraved with a swirling star pattern. "Got to be careful, don't want to almost get burned at the stake…again."

"Good point." Martha nodded. "Are there others like you?"

"No, no one else survived." Stella took in a shuddering breath starring down at the ground. "We all tried to pull together, to keep each other hopeful and sane, but in the end it was useless. The worse was as the days turned to weeks then months and finally years, as time passed it got quieter and quieter until it was only me."

"I'm so sorry." The Doctor breathed out.

"Me to." Martha said softly.

"That's why I helped Peter, I see a lot of myself in him, if it wasn't for Boe I may yet be like him or worse." Stella said glancing back at the tavern. "He just needs a friend, that's what everyone who is sad or alone or in pain needs."

The Doctor glanced at Stella feeling her words resound in his hearts. He reached out taking her hand in his giving it a comforting squeeze, Martha doing the same to her other hand. She smiled at them both, thankful for their support.

"That is enough of the past, I believe we have some witches to defeat." Stella said in determination.

"Come on, this way." The Doctor said quickly turning onto a small street.

-0-

Burbage is playing King Ferdinand and Kempe is playing Costard the clown to an enraptured audience.

"The eye should have contentment where it rests. This spun out year I watch on, groaning sick…" Burbage spoke. Bloodtide who was holding a large glass ball in an ornate holder, looked down at the creatures flying in a distant sky.

"Patience, my sisters. Patience." Bloodtide said.

"Mewling poor drooped men in stenched beds…" The play went on until Shakespeare interrupted it running onto the stage.

"Stop the play! I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but stop. This performance must end immediately." Shakespeare said to a groaning audience.

"Oh, everyone's a critic." Burbage mumbled rolling his eyes.

"The wordsmith." Bloodtide said.

"Fear not. I have the doll." Doomfinger said taking out the doll with wills hair.

"I'm sorry. You'll get a refund. But this play must not be performed." Shakespeare said. Doomfinger hits the doll and Shakespeare falls down.

"Is he drunk or what?" Kempe asked.

"Get him off the stage." Burbage ordered the young men playing the women who carry Shakespeare off the stage.

"You must forgive our irksome Will. He's been on the beer and feeling ill." Laughter and applause follow Kempe's improve and he does a little backwards dance.

"There is naught can stop us now." Doomfinger said gleefully.

-0-

"All Hallows Street, but which house?" The Doctor asked when they arrived at their destination.

"The thing is, though am I missing something here? The world didn't end in 1599. It just didn't. Look at me. I'm living proof." Martha said gesturing to herself.

"Oh, how to explain the mechanics of the infinite temporal flux?" The Doctor asked himself.

"Back to the Future?" Stella offered.

"That's good." The Doctor said. "It's like Back to the Future."

"Wait, the film?" Martha asked the Doctor.

"No, the novelization. Yes, the film. Marty McFly goes back and changes history." The Doctor said rolling his eyes.

"And he starts fading away. Oh my God, am I going to fade?" Martha asked looking herself over.

"You and the entire future of the human race. It ends right now in 1599 if we don't stop it. But which house?" The Doctor asked looking around. A door creaks open invitingly. "Ah. Make that witch house."

"Yeah, cause this doesn't scream trap at all." Stella mumbled stuffing her hands into her pockets as they walked into the house and up the stairs.

"I take it we're expected." The Doctor said walking onto the witch's room.

"Oh, I think Death has been waiting for you a very long time." Lilith said eyeing the Doctor then Stella. "For both of you really."

"Well tell it that it can keep on waiting." Stella grumbled.

"Right then, it's my turn. I know how to do this." Martha said walking in front of them and pointing to Lilith. "I name thee Carrionite!" Lilith pretended to be in pain then straightened up with a laugh much to Martha's confusion. "What did I do wrong? Was it the finger?"

"The power of a name works only once." Stella said with a glare.

"She's right, observe. I gaze upon this bag of bones and now I name thee Martha Jones." Lilith said and Martha falls backwards into the Doctor's arms. Stella quickly helped him lower her to the ground cradling her in her arms.

"What have you done?" The Doctor demanded.

"She's only sleeping." Stella said in relief looking her over.

"Alas. It's curious. The name has less impact. She's somehow out of her time." Lilith said thoughtfully before focusing back on the Doctor and Rhea who had stood up ready to pounce. "Since our little Stella seems immune to magic I will have to be blunter in my attack."

A thick iron cauldron unhooked itself from somewhere behind Stella and bashed her in the side of the head knocking her to the ground next to Martha unconscious.

"Stella!" The Doctor yelped kneeling down and turning her over. She was still breathing, but a trickle of blue blood dripped across her forehead out of her hair line.

"Now I shall focus on you, Sir Doctor." She said the stopped as the Doctor glared up at her. "Fascinating. There is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair?" Lilith questioned. "Oh, but look. There's still one word with the power that aches."

"The naming won't work on me." The Doctor said standing up.

"But your heart grows cold. The north wind blows and carries down the distant Rose." Lilith said leaning forward.

"Oh, big mistake." The Doctor said charging the witch. "Because that name keeps me fighting. The Carrionites vanished. Where did you go?"

"The Eternals found the right word to banish us into deep darkness." Lilith said indifferently.

"And how did you escape?" The Doctor questioned as Stella groggily started to come to, her systems rebooting as her eyes seemed to flicker.

"New words. New and glittering, from a mind like no other." Lilith said looking into the scrying cauldron where Shakespeare in tears appeared.

"Shakespeare." The Doctor said. Stella propped herself up on her elbows struggling to get to her feet.

"His son perished. The grief of a genius. Grief without measure. Madness enough to allow us entrance." Lilith went on.

"How many of you?" The Doctor demanded as Stella stumbled to her knees, neither the witch nor the Doctor noticing to focused one on the other.

"Just the three. But the play tonight shall restore the rest. Then the human race will be purged as pestilence. And from this world we will lead the universe back into the old ways of blood and magic." Lilith said with glee.

"Hmm. Busy schedule." The Doctor said. "But first you've got to get past me."

"Oh, that should be a pleasure, considering my enemy has such a handsome shape." Lilith said getting really close to the Doctor running her hand through his hair.

"Now, that's one form of magic that's definitely not going to work on me." The Doctor said. Stella's eyes widened, the flickering ceasing, as the fog rapidly cleared from her head cleansed by a rush of adrenaline.

"Oh, we'll see." Lilith said.

"No, stop her." Stella yelled scrambling up to her feet as Lilith snipped some hairs from his head.

"What did you do?" The Doctor said slapping a hand to the back of his head.

"Souvenir." Lilith said showing the piece of hair and a small pair of scissors as she backed away.

"Well, give it back." The Doctor said as he and Stella lunge at her, but Lilith flies out of the window backwards. They are on the upper floor. "Well, that's just cheating."

"You idiot, why did you let her so close to you." Stella snapped punching him in the shoulder.

"Ow, how was I supposed to know?!" The Doctor yelped rubbing his arm.

"I thought you were smarter than that!" Stella grumbled.

"Behold, Doctor. Men to Carrionites are nothing but puppets." Lilith sad as she wraps his hair round a wooden doll, while Martha wakes up.

"Now, you might call that magic. I'd call that a DNA replication module." The Doctor said.

"What use is your science now?" Lilith stabs the doll, and the Doctor screams and falls into Stella's arms as Lilith flies away.

"Oh my God, Doctor. Don't worry, I've got you." Martha said as she ran over keeping next to him.

"She only stabbed him once." Stella said as she got up allowing the Doctor to flop to the floor with a grunt.

"Two hearts?" Martha said straightening up.

"You're making a habit of this." The Doctor said standing up, but stumbling back to the ground grabbing Stella and Martha in pain. "Ah! I've only got one heart working. How do you people cope?" Then his hands shot to his head. "Oi my head, did you have to drop me?!" The Doctor whined shooting Stella a pointed look as she just rolled her eyes. "I've got to get the other one started. Hit me! Hit me on the chest!" The Doctor ordered and Martha hit him. "Dah! Other side. Now, on the back, on the back. Left a bit." She hit him three more times before he stood up his back cracking loudly. "Dah, lovely. There we go. Badda booma! Well, what are you two standing there for? Come one! The Globe!"

-0-

Lilith joins the mothers in their box.

"The Doctor?" Doomfinger asked.

"Dead." Lilith said with a smile that her mother's shared.

"The ladies have prepared a show. Maria means to present Isis descending from the dewy orb of Heaven. Ah, here comes Costard." Burbage said from the stage.

"Masters!" Kempe said walking onto the stage.

-0-

The Doctor ran down the streets followed by Martha and Stella. They came to a fork and followed the Doctor down the right street.

"We're going the wrong way!" Martha yelled.

"No, we're not!" The Doctor said continuing on his way for a little bit more before turning back around and going the right way. "We're going the wrong way!"

"No, really?!' Stella said sarcastically.

"Oi, no back seat drivers." The Doctor replied as Stella stuck her tongue out at him and Martha laughed.

-0-

"Behold the swainish sight of woman's love. Pish! It's out of season to be heavy disposed." Burbage said as he took his position center stage.

"It is now, my mothers. The final words to activate the tetradecagon." Lilith said looking down at the globe in her hand.

"Betwixt Dravidian shores and linear five nine three oh one six seven point oh two, and strikes the fulsome grove of Rexel Four. Co-radiating crystal, activate!" A wind fills the theatre as Burbage spoke. Red smoke swirled around as the crowd began to panic.

"The portal opens. It begins!" Lilith said triumphantly.

-0-

"Oh you see that's not good in the least." Stella said as they came to a brief stop within sight of the theatre which was enveloped in a bright red glow. The entire town was in a panic running away from the building.

"I told thee so! I told thee!" The preacher said happily as he raced down the street past them with the rest of the scared masses.

"Stage door!" The Doctor said running forward followed by Martha and Stella.

A storm rages over the building as the audience panic and run, but the witches slam the doors shut to stop them. The Doctor Stella and Martha find Shakespeare waking up backstage.

"Stop the play. I think that was it. Yeah, I said, stop the play!" The Doctor said in a panicked voice.

"I hit my head." Shakespeare said groggily rubbing his head.

"Yeah, don't rub it, you'll go bald." The Doctor said as the screams intensified. "I think that's my cue!"

"Now begins the millennium of blood!" The Carrionites yelled. The Doctor runs out onto the stage, followed by Martha Stella and Shakespeare.

"The Doctor. He lives." Lilith said spotting them on the stage. "Then watch this world become a blasted heath! They come. They come!"

Lilith holds the crystal out into the red light and bat-like creatures fly into the theatre. They circle a bit then fly up into the sky.

"Come on, Will! History needs you!" The Doctor called out to Shakespeare.

"But what can I do?" Shakespeare yelled.

"Reverse it!" Stella said loudly.

"How am I supposed to do that?" Shakespeare asked.

"The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith, the one true genius." The Doctor yelled. "The only man clever enough to do it."

"But what words? I have none ready!" Shakespeare said.

"You're William Shakespeare!" The Doctor said catching on.

"But these Carrionite phrases, the need such precision." Shakespeare said.

"Trust yourself. When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they, like magic." Stella said encouragingly.

"Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm. Words that last forever. That's what you do, Will. You choose perfect words. Do it. Improvise." The Doctor ordered. Gaining confidence Shakespeare stepped forward and began to speak.

"Close up this din of hateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches' plot. You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor and guiding star tells me I am not!" Shakespeare called out.

"No! Words of power!" Lilith snapped.

"Foul Carrionite spectres, cease your show! Between the points…" Shakespeare looked to the Doctor and Stella.

"Seven six one three nine oh!" The Doctor and Hero said.

"Seven six one three nine oh! Banished like a tinker's cuss, I say to thee…" Shakespeare went blank.

"Expelliarmus!" Martha offered.

"Expelliarmus!" Doctor and Stella repeated.

"Expelliarmus!" Shakespeare shouted.

"Good old JK!" The Doctor cheered as the Carrionites scream.

"The deep darkness! They are consumed!" The Carrionites are sucked into a tornado, along with all the extant pages of the play.

"Martha, you are awesome." Stella said side hugging Martha who laughed as she hugged her back jumping up and down in happiness.

"Love's Labor's Won. There it goes." The Doctor said watching as the sky clears with a flash and bang. After a few moments, someone starts clapping, then all the audience joins in.

"They think it was all special effects?" Martha said in shock.

"Your effect is special indeed." Shakespeare said to Martha who smiles.

"It's not your best line." Martha said with a laugh.

Shakespeare and Martha take their bows with the rest of the cast. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Stella go up to the now empty box and picks up the crystal. Lilith and her mothers are inside, scratching to get at them.

-0-

"And I say, a heart for a hart and a dear for a deer." Shakespeare said as he and Martha sat on the stage.

"I don't get it." Martha said shaking her head.

"Then give me a joke from Freedonia." Shakespeare said.

"Okay, Shakespeare walks into a pub and the landlord says, Oi mate, you're Bard." Martha replied.

"That's brilliant. Doesn't make sense, mind you, but never mind that. Now come here." Shakespeare puts his arm around Martha's waist and pulls her towards him.

"I've only just met you." Martha said.

"The Doctor may never kiss you. Why not entertain a man who will?" Shakespeare said, but Martha still pulls back.

"I don't know how to tell you this, oh great genius, but your breath doesn't half stink." Martha said as the Doctor enters wearing a small stiff ruff and carrying an animal skull as Stella followed carrying the globe wearing a giant pirate's hat with large plumes of feathers.

"Good props store back there. I'm not sure about this though, reminds me of a Sycorax." The Doctor winced.

"Oh, I've met Sycorax before. They are so rude and cannot take a joke." Stella said shaking her head causing the feathers to sway.

"Sycorax. Nice word. I'll have that off you as well." Shakespeare said with a smile.

"I should be on ten percent." The Doctor said setting down the skull. "How's your head?"

"Still aching." Shakespeare said.

"Here, I got you this." The Doctor takes off the ruff and puts it on Shakespeare. "Neck brace. Wear that for a few days till it's better, although you might want to keep it. It suits you."

"What about the play?" Martha asked.

"Gone. Stella and I looked all over. Every single copy of Love's Labor's Won went up in the sky." The Doctor said as Stella took off the hat to reveal a square purple bandage from where she was hit with the pot.

"My lost masterpiece." Shakespeare lamented.

"You could write it up again." Martha said.

"Yeah, better not, Will. There's still power in those words. Maybe it should best stay forgotten." Stella said with a wince.

"Oh, but I've got new ideas. Perhaps it's time I wrote about fathers and sons, in memory of my boy, my precious Hamnet." Shakespeare said looking happy at the prospect of new ideas.

"Hamnet?" Martha echoed.

"That's him." Shakespeare said.

"Ham- NET?" Martha said again emphasizing the last part.

"What's wrong with that?" Shakespeare asked.

"Nothing, it's a beautiful name." Stella said patting him on the back.

"Anyway, time we were off." The Doctor said taking the globe from Stella. "I've got a nice attic in the Tardis where this lot can scream for all eternity, and I've got to take Martha and Stella back to Freedonia."

"You mean travel on through time and space." Shakespeare said with a raised eyebrow.

"You what?" The Doctor said in shock.

"You're from another world like the Carrionites, Stella and Martha are from the future although different points in the future and I'm certain that Stella is not completely human. It's not hard to work out." Shakespeare said with a shrug.

"That's incredible. You are incredible." The Doctor said.

"We're alike in many ways, Doctor, Stella." Shakespeare said before turning back to Martha. "Martha, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse. A sonnet for my Dark Lady. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate…"

Burbage and Kempe enter from the street interrupting him.

"Will!" Burbage called out.

"Will, you'll never believe it. She's here! She's turned up!" Kempe said in excitement.

"We're the talk of the town. She heard about last night. She wants us to perform it again." Burbage said.

"Who?" Martha asked.

"Her Majesty. She's here." Burbage said as Fanfare sounded and the elderly Elizabeth enters with two pikemen.

"Queen Elizabeth the First!" The Doctor said with a bright smile.

"Doctor? Stella?" Elizabeth hissed.

"What?" The Doctor said.

"My sworn enemies." Elizabeth went on.

"What?" The Doctor said again looking to a confused Stella who shrugged unknowingly.

"Off with their heads!" She ordered.

"What?" The Doctor said one last time.

"Never mind what, just run!" Stella yelled grabbing his and Martha's hands pulling them away. "Take care of Peter or else Will!"

"I promise." Will called out as he started to laugh.

"See you, Will, and thanks." Martha called out over her shoulder.

"Stop that pernicious Doctor and his Stella." Elizabeth ordered. Shakespeare laughed harder as the pikemen chase the Doctor Stella and Martha out and into the streets of Southwark.

"Stop in the name of the Queen!" A Pikeman yelled.

"What have you two done to upset her?" Martha demanded.

"Ask him." Stella shouted gesturing to the Doctor.

"How should I know? Haven't even met her yet. That's time travel for you. Still, can't wait to find out." The Doctor said as they get to the Tardis and he lets Martha and Stella in.

"Yeah." Stella said sarcastically.

"That's something to look forward to. Ooo!" The Doctor said as Stella reaches out grabbing him by the collar pulling him inside and shuts the door as an arrow thuds into it.


	7. Chapter 7

A slightly static image of a woman is on the monitor next to a logo of the Statue of Liberty.

"Salutations! This is Sally Calypso with the traffic news at ten fifteen. We've got reports of a multiple stackpile at junction five zero nine, with a spate of carjackings reported on New Fifth Avenue. So you take care now, and drive safely." Sally said as the car shakes. The occupants are dressed in American Gothic clothes from the painting of the farmer and his wife.

"They're going to get in. There's no stopping them." Ma cried out.

"The police are on their way, I promise. I've sounded the alarm. Repeat. This is car one zero hot five. We have a problem. Require urgent assistance." Pa yelled into his comm.

"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold." The Computer replied.

"It's all your fault. You lied to the computer. You said there were three of us. You told them three." Ma cried dissolving into panicked tears.

"Repeat. Urgent assistance. Car one zero hot five. This is an emergency! Help us! Oh my God, I'm begging you, please, help us!" Pa screamed as a big bang rocks the car and sparks fly. Smoke starts to fill the car the last view of the screaming occupants is a hand sliding down the monitor.

"The weather is at 36 degrees, and it's blue skies all the way home. This is Sally Calypso, signing off. Missing you already." Sally said brightly.

-0-

"Oh wow." Stella said in awe as she looked around the Tardis. "This is amazing."

"Yeah, I know right." Martha said with a big smile.

"It's a pocket dimension, right?" Stella asked and the Doctor nodded. "I use the same thing for packing." She said as she indicated the pockets of her jacket. "But I've never seen anything this extensive. It's so much smaller on the outside."

"Never heard it quite like that before." The Doctor said rubbing the back of his head.

"Wait, you pack all your stuff in your pockets?" Martha asked. Stella reached into her pocket and pulled out a large thick book, 'The complete work of Sherlock Holmes in Space.' "That was in your pocket?"

"Yep. I have a pocket dimension in my pocket, I install one in all of my clothes." Stella said tossing her the book. "Compact packing that has no weight and doesn't budge so all of my things are always with me no matter where I go."

"So who are you?" Martha asked Stella.

"Oh that is a bit of a complicated question." Stella said looking to the Doctor who also looked interested in her story. "Well you see, in your future on May 23, 2023 I went camping in the Colorado Rockies to get away from it all. The very same night I arrived I was taken hostage and experimented on for over a year by the Lacerta, a race of metallic colored lizard people that wanted to build a cyborg army from other species to further the conquest of their own people without risking their own lives."

"That's aweful." Martha breathed out.

"Isn't it though." Stella nodded.

"How did you escape?" The Doctor asked.

"My friend Boe, he sent men to stop the Lacerta and they rescued me as well. He took me in and helped me grow accustom to what I had become." Stella answered.

"But, why didn't you go home?" Martha asked.

"Two reasons, one I had no home to return to." Stella shrugged. "I was an only child and my parents passed away. As for my friends they had already mourned me and moved on."

"And the other?" The Doctor asked.

"How old do I look?" Stella asked leaning back against the console.

"Twenties?" Martha shrugged.

"I am over seven hundred years old." Stella said causing Martha's mouth to drop. "Yeah, I' immortal basically, at least age wise; I can still be shot and killed or anything like that, but a natural death is not in the cards for me." Stella shook her head. "I couldn't bare returning home to watch it all fade away so I ran away and I've been running ever since."

"I'm so sorry." Martha said placing a hand on Stella's shoulder and looking up at her Stella could tell that she really meant it making her smile.

"Thank you Martha." Stella smiled softly then clapped her hand together. "I don't like dwelling on these sad things." Stella said suddenly changing the subject. "Where to now?"

"Just one trip. That's what I said to Martha. One trip in the Tardis, and then home. Although I suppose we could stretch the definition and I really should thank Stella for helping us out." The Doctor said smiling brightly allowing the subject change.

"Really, I can come?" Stella said with a hopeful smile.

"Sure why not, you did say you wanted to travel with me when you got the chance." The Doctor said as Stella hopped on her heels excitedly. "Take one trip into past, one trip into future. How do you fancy that?"

"No complaints from me." Martha said in excitement.

"How about a different planet?" The Doctor said working the console.

"Can we go to yours?" Martha asked the Doctor making Stella look at her in confusion.

"Ah, there's plenty of other places." The Doctor said not really looking at her, confusing Stella even more.

"Come on, though. I mean, planet of the Time Lords. That's got to be worth a look. What's it like?" Martha asked in excitement.

"Well, it's beautiful, yeah." The Doctor said.

"Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?" Martha continued to question.

"I suppose it is." The Doctor said slowing down in his movements.

"Great big temples and cathedrals!" Martha said.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.

"Lots of planets in the sky?" Martha said with a gesture.

"The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow." The Doctor said wistfully and Stella felt her heart clench with empathy to his pain.

"Can we go there?" Martha asked hopefully.

"Nah. Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home." The Doctor said brushing her off. "Instead, this is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth. Second hope of mankind. Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York. Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."

Stella followed them out of the Tardis realizing that he was pretending. Pretending that his home was still all there and she couldn't destroy this daydream of his, how many times had she pretended that her parents were still waiting for her at home along with the rest of her family and friends.

"Well in that case I have no need for this." Stella said taking off her ring and shoving it into her pocket allowing her cyborg enhancements to show.

"Oh wow." Martha said wide eyes. "So this is you?"

"This is me." Stella nodded holding out a hand which Martha took cautiously marveling out how cool her skin felt, but noticing the warmth coming from the blue opal colored lines that accented her body.

"Amazing." Martha breathed out.

"Hey you two, coming or what?" The Doctor called out impatiently

"Keep your shirt on." Stella smiled excitedly and stepped out of the Tardis with Martha and the Doctor finding that they had landed in a narrow dingy alleyway, the Tardis blocking it completely and rain was coming down in sheets around them.

"Oh, that's nice. Time Lord version of dazzling." Martha complained cringing in the cold rain.

"Oh that's lovely." Stella said shaking her head sending droplets of water everywhere. "Now my hair is going to get all frizzy."

"Nah, bit of rain never hurt anyone." The Doctor waved them off.

"One word, Jamanji." Stella deadpanned, the Doctor rolled his eyes at her.

"Come on, let's get under cover!" The Doctor said leading the girls over an abandoned building doorway.

-0-

The Face of Boe's eyes open and he thinks at his kneeling cat attendant.

"They have arrived." Boe said.

"What should I do?" Hame asked looking reverently up at him.

"Find them before it's too late." Boe said and Novice Hame gets up and checks her machine gun. It lights up green.

-0-

"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me, on a Wednesday afternoon." Martha said looking round at the plywood ghetto.

"So this is what they think Earth looks like, I always thought they'd make it greener." Stella commented. With Boe in the hospital she hadn't had a lot of chances to explore the city and its surroundings the last time she was there.

"Hold on, hold on. Let's have a look." The Doctor uses his sonic screwdriver to get a monitor working.

"And the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway." Sally said as a picture of a high-tec Manhattan and flying cars appears on the screen.

"Oh, that's more like it. That's the view we had last time. This must be the lower levels, down in the base of the tower. Some sort of under-city." The Doctor said.

"You've brought me to the slums?" Martha said in a miffed voice.

"Much more interesting. It's all cocktails and glitter up there." The Doctor said.

"And no one would want to see that." Stella joked sarcastically.

"This is the real city." The Doctor said trying to be convincing.

"You'd enjoy anything." Martha said shaking her head.

"That's me." The Doctor agreed as the rain let up. "Ah, the rain's stopping. Better and better."

"When you say last time, was that you and Rose?" Martha asked as they walked along.

"Yeah. Yeah, it was, yeah." The Doctor replied.

"You're taking us to the same planets that you took her?" Martha said with a look.

"What's wrong with that?" The Doctor asked.

"Wow." Stella breathed out.

"What?" The Doctor looked to Stella in confusion, but she just shook her head.

"Nothing. Just ever heard the word rebound?" Martha said walking ahead of them.

"You are so male." Stella said making the Doctor furrow his brows then a man suddenly opened the front of his stall surprising them.

"Oh! You should have said. How long you been there? Happy. You want Happy." The man said as more hatches open revealing a woman in each.

"Customers. Customers! We've got customers!" The blonde one said.

"We're in business. Mother, open up the Mellow, and the Read." The black haired one said.

"Happy, Happy, lovely happy Happy!" The man went on.

"Anger. Buy some Anger!" The blonde woman said.

"Get some Mellow. Makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long." The black haired woman said.

"Don't go to them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?" The man asked.

"No, thanks." The Doctor said.

"Are they selling drugs?" Martha asked.

"They're selling moods." Stella said looking around in disgust.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Martha asked.

"Kind of, this stuff is more addictive than the drugs you're thinking about though. These go directly into the blood stream through a chemical-releasing cellophane patch." Stella said shoving her hands into her pockets. "I should know, I was on them for a while to make the pain of losing my life go away then my friend Boe found out and helped me stop cold turkey. The worst withdrawal you can ever imagine."

"Did you ever go back?" The Doctor asked giving her a sidelong look.

"Never, I promised Boe I wouldn't, gave him my word and I never break my word." Stella said meeting his gaze as a young girl entered the area, listless and dressed in rags.

"Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!" The black haired woman called out.

"Oi! Oi, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some Happy!" The man said.

"Come over here, yeah. And what can I get you, my love?" The blonde woman said as the girl came up to her.

"I want to buy Forget." The girl said.

"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much do you want forgetting?" The blonde asked.

"It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway." The girl said sadly.

"Oh, that's a swine. Try this. Forget Forty three. That's two credits." The blonde said taking the money and handing her the patch.

"Sorry, but hold on a minute. What happened to your parents?" The Doctor asked as walking over to the girl.

"They drove off." The girl said.

"Yeah, but they might drive back." Stella said cocking her head to the side.

"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them." The girl said brokenly.

"But they can't have gone far. You could find them." The Doctor said as the girl starts to put the patch on her neck.

"No. No, no, don't." Stella tried to stop her, but she stuck the Forget 43 tab to her neck and her mood visibly brightened.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" She asked with a smile.

"Your parents. Your mother and father. They're on the motorway." The Doctor prompted.

"Are they? That's nice." The girl said still smiling not bothered at all. "I'm sorry, I won't keep you."

"It's no use once the patch is on." Stella said shaking her head as the woman left. "She'll forget until that patch wares off then she'll come back for more."

"So that's the human race five billion years in the future. Off their heads on chemicals." Martha said in disgust then let out a scream as a man grabs her from behind, and a woman points a gun at the Doctor and Stella while stalls all close their hatches.

"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all." Milo said as he and Cheen backed away with Martha.

"No, let her go! I'm warning you, let her go!" Stella ordered trying to find a way to save Martha without hurting anyone.

"Whatever you want, I can help. Both of us, we can help. But first you've got to let her go." The Doctor tried.

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry." Cheen said on the verge of tears. Milo drags Martha through a green door, and Cheen locks it behind them. They run along a passageway while the Doctor tries to get it open.

"Stand back." Stella said making the Doctor move right before Stella kicked the door in off its hinges, an impressive feat considering the door opened in and not out. The Doctor and Stella ran inside as fast as they can following the sounds of Martha's screams. Milo and Cheen drag Martha up to a clunky grey car reminiscent of a VW bus with a futuristic flare.

"The Doctor is so going to kill you, and never mind him, I'm going to kill you myself! Let go of me!" Martha yelled as she kicked and hit struggling to get free.

"Give her some Sleep." Milo ordered.

"Don't you dare! Don't put that stuff in me, don't! Get off me!" Martha struggled harder.

"It's just Sleep Fourteen. No, baby, don't fight it." Cheen said as she tried to stick the patch on Martha.

"I'm telling you, don't!" Martha screamed just as the patch is slapped on her neck causing her to fall asleep against her will.

"That's it. Come on. That's it." Cheen said soothingly.

"Get on board." Milop said following Cheen inside with Martha setting her on the bed then getting into the pilots seat. "Engaging anti-gravs. Hold on."

Milo releases the handbrake and the car takes off just as Stella and the Doctor burst through the door.

"Martha!" The Doctor yelled.

-0-

"She's all right. She's breathing, pulse is fine, and no harm done. She looks rich. She must have got lost." Cheen said as she sat back down in the passenger seat.

"Yeah, well, she's worth her weight in gold to us." Milo said and began toThis is car four six five diamond six. We have three passengers, repeat three. Request access to the fast lane.

"Access granted." The computer said.

"Oh, yes." Milo said sharing a happy look with Cheen.

-0-

The Doctor and Stella made their way back to the drug dealers. The Doctor walked up to one of the stores and hammered on the closed hatch. The blonde lady opened up with a smile.

"Thought you'd come back. Do you want some happy Happy?" The blonde lady asked.

"Those people, who were they? Where did they take her?" The Doctor demanded.

"They've taken her to the motorway." The man said opening his hatch.

"Looked like carjackers to me." The black haired lady said also coming out.

"I'd give up now, darling. You won't see her again." The blonde said.

"Used to be thriving, this place. You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end." The man said.

"He kept on saying three, we need three. What did he mean, three?" Stella asked glaring at all of them.

"It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel. You get special access if you're carrying three adults." The black haired woman said.

"This motorway. How do we get there?" The Doctor demanded.

"Straight down the alley, keep going to the end. You canna miss it." The blonde said. "Tell you what. How about some happy Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love."

"Word to the wise, and to you all as well. Cash up, close down and pack your bags." Stella snapped angrily.

"Why's that, then?" The black haired woman asked.

"Because as soon as we've found her, alive and well. And we will find her alive and well. Then we're coming back, and this street is closing tonight!" The Doctor growled out making all of the owners look at him fearfully before he turned on his heel pulling Stella along with him by her hand and charged toward the motorway.

-0-

"Now you just settle back. It's all going to be worth it." Milo said happily as Martha started to come to. She reached up pulling the patch from her neck letting it fall to the ground as the last effects of the drug leave her system. Martha glanced around the car and spotted the gun lying nearby.

"Yeah. The view from the windows. You can see all the way out to the flatlands. Clear blue sky." Cheen said dreamily. "They say the air smells like apple grass. Can you imagine?"

"The houses are made of wood. There are jobs going in the foundries. Everyone says so." Milo said sharing her excitement. Martha grabbed the gun and points it at them.

"Take me back. Whoever you are, just take me back to my friends." Martha said as she alternated pointing the gun between Milo and Cheen. "That's all I want. I won't cause any trouble. Just take me back."

"I'm sorry. That's not a real gun." Cheen said shaking her head.

"Yeah, well, you would say that." Martha bit out with a sneer.

"Where do you get a gun from, these days? I wouldn't even know how to fire." Cheen argued.

"No, nor me. Okay." Martha said in realization and puts the gun down.

"What's your name?" Cheen asked trying to be friendly.

"Martha. Martha Jones." Martha answered.

"Well, I'm Cheen, and this is Milo" Cheen introduced them. "And I swear we're sorry. We're really, really sorry. We just needed access to the fast line, but I promise, as soon as we arrive, we'll drop you off and you can go back and find your friends."

"Seriously?" Martha asked.

"I swear! Look." Cheen moved aside some of her hair revealing her neck with a patch on it. "Honesty patch."

"All the same, it's still kidnapping! Where are we, anyway?" Martha asked.

"We're on the motorway." Milo answered as Martha leaned over to look out a window into the dense smog.

"What's that, then? Fog?" Martha asked.

"That's the exhaust fumes." Cheen said.

"We're going out to Brooklyn. Everyone says the air's so much cleaner, and we couldn't stay in Pharmacy Town, because…" Milo trailed off sharing a smile with Cheen as they held hands.

"Well, because of me. I'm pregnant." Cheen said placing a hand on her stomach. "We only discovered it last week. Scan says it's going to be a boy."

"Right. What do I do now, congratulate my kidnappers?" Martha said sarcastically.

"Oh, we're not kidnappers. Not really." Cheen said.

"Nope? You're idiots. You're having a baby, and you're wearing that?" Martha snapped as she pulled the Honesty patch from Cheen's neck. "Not anymore."

"This'll be as fast as we can. We'll take the motorway to the Brooklyn flyover, and then after that it's going to take a while, because then there's no fast lane, just ordinary roads, but at least it's direct." Milo explained to Martha as Cheen rubbed her neck where the patch use to be.

"It's only ten miles." Cheen said.

"How long is it going to take?" Martha asked looking out through the windshield.

"About six years." Milo answered.

"What?" Martha yelped.

"Be just in time for him to start school." Cheen said hugging her stomach.

"No, sorry, hold on. Six years? Ten miles in six years? How come?" Martha snapped starting to panic.

-0-

The Doctor unlocked a metal door and stepped out with Stella onto a small balcony, the Doctor coughing in the exhaust fumes. The stationary traffic is stacked in all directions, including up and down.

"What is all of this?" Stella asked, not bothered by the fumes thanks to an air purification system that now made up her lungs. The car nearest the balcony opened its door and a figure in WW2 flying jacket and helmet, goggles and a white scarf across its face looks out.

"Hey! You daft little street struts. What are you two doing standing there? Either get out or get in. Come on!" Brannigan said in a deep Irish accent. The Doctor took Stella's hand and pulled her into the car both of them gasping for breath. "Did you ever see the like?"

"Here you go." Valerie a dark haired woman said as she put an oxygen mask on the Doctor, Stella waving the other mask off.

"Just standing there, breathing it in." Brannigan removes the scarf and goggles revealing his cat features. "There's this story, says back in the old days, on Junction forty seven, this woman stood in the exhaust fumes for a solid twenty minutes. By the time they found her, her head had swollen to fifty feet."

"Oh, you're making it up." Valerie scoffed.

"A fifty foot head! Just think of it. Imagine picking that nose." Brannigan went on.

"Oh, stop it. That's disgusting." Valerie with a small smile like she was trying to hide her amusement.

"What, did you never pick your nose?" Brannigan asked, but Valerie is distracted by the traffic.

"Bran, we're moving." Valeria said in excitement.

"Right. I'm there. I'm on it." Brannigan said shifting into gear. With a cloud of white smoke from the exhaust pipe, all the cars move forward a short distance. "Twenty yards. We're having a good day. And who might you two be? Very well-dressed for a hitchhikers."

"Thanks." The Doctor said as he pulled of the air mask. "Sorry, I'm the Doctor and this is Stella."

"Hello." Stella smiled.

"Medical man and a pretty cyborg!" Brannigan said with a smile. "My name's Thomas Kincade Brannigan, and this is the bane of my life, the lovely Valerie."

"Nice to meet you both." Valerie said.

"And that's the rest of the family behind you." Brannigan said gesturing behind them to a curtain which the Doctor draws back to reveal a litter of kittens in a basket. One of the kittens looked up at them and said mama in a tiny voice.

"Ah, that's nice. Hello." The Doctor said as he picked one of them up and Stella gently stroked the top of its head.

"They're adorable." Stella cooed as the kitten reached up for her.

"How old are they?" The Doctor asked watching as Stella let the kitten place its paw on her nose. She seemed to light up like a new star in the presence of the babies making him wonder if she had any of her own.

"Just two months." Valerie said proudly.

"I've always wanted to have a baby, but it was just never in the cards for me." Stella said gently stroking the kittens head. Her eyes seemed to dim sadly with a deep pain and the Doctor felt a pang of empathy for her. "You're both very lucky, they're perfect."

"Oh you're both still young, plenty of time for children." Brannigan said encouragingly making the Doctor and Stella blush as he went on, the Doctor quickly removing his arm. "We didn't have them straight away, you have to keep…"

"We're not together." Stella stuttered out quickly her face blazing, but not only for being mistaken for being with the Doctor, but for what Brannigan had been about to say.

"Yeah, just friends." The Doctor said also red faced.

"Oh, really, you both just looked…never mind." Brannigan waved off his eyes drifting back to his baby in the Doctor's arms. "Poor little souls, they've never known the ground beneath their paws." Brannigan lamented shaking his head. "Children of the motorway."

"What, they were born in here?" The Doctor asked as Stella looked wide eyed.

"You are a brave woman." Stella said to Valerie only being able to imagine having kids in the small car with only her husband to help her, not that she'd ever have to.

"We couldn't stop. We heard there were jobs going, out in the laundries on Fire Island. Thought we'd take a chance." Valerie said with a shrug.

"What, you've been driving for two months?" The Doctor asked in shock.

"Do I look like a teenager?" Brannigan scoffed. "We've been driving for twelve years now."

"Twelve years?!" Stella asked her jaw dropping.

"Yeah! Started out as newlyweds. Feels like yesterday." Brannigan said smiling at Valerie.

"Feels like twelve years to me." Valerie contradicted.

"Ah, sweetheart, but you're still love me." Brannigan said happily.

"Twelve years? How far did you come? Where did you start?" The Doctor asked in rapid succession.

"Battery Park. It's five miles back." Brannigan answered.

"You travelled five miles in twelve years?" The Doctor asked.

"You can't be serious." Stella said wide eyed running hand through her hair.

"I think they're a bit slow." Brannigan said.

"You traveled five miles in twelve years! Who's calling who slow?" Stella said as the Doctor sat the kitten back down.

"Where are you from?" Valerie asked changing the subject.

"Never mind that. We've got to get out. Our friend's in one of these cars. She was taken hostage." The Doctor said as he opened the door. "We should get back to the Tardis."

"You're too late for that. We've passed the lay-by." Brannigan said as they looked down at the drop off into nothing from the car. "You're a passengers now, Sonny Jim."

"When's the next lay-by?" Stella asked as they closed the door.

"Oh, six months?" Brannigan answered causing both the Doctor's and Stella's stomachs to drop.

-0-

"How many cars are out there?" Martha asked as the car flew down through the rows and stacks of car.

"I don't think anyone knows." Cheen answered as she pulled out some kind of large thick cracker. "Here we go. Hungry?"

"Oh, thanks." Martha said taking the food and nibbling on it. "But how far down is it to this fast lane?"

"Oh, it's right at the bottom, underneath the traffic jam. But not many people can afford three passengers, so it's empty down there." Milo answered. "Rumor has it you can reach up to thirty miles per hour."

"Wow. That's, like, crazy." Martha said sarcastically. "But how are you supposed to live inside this thing? It's tiny."

"Oh, we stocked up. Got self-replicating fuel, muscle stimulants for exercise, and there's a chemical toilet at the back." Cheen pointed out around the small room. "And all waste products are recycled as food."

"Okay." Martha said dropping the food with a look if disgust.

"Oh, another gap. This is brilliant." Milo said as he maneuvered the car.

"Car sign in." The Computer said.

"Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, on descent to fast lane, thank you very much." Milo answered all smiles.

"Please drive safely." The Computer said.

-0-

"I need to talk to the police." The Doctor said as he hacked into the computer communication system at the back of the car above the bed.

"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold." The Computer replied.

"But you're the police." The Doctor said.

"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold." The Computer repeated.

"Oh well that can't be good at all." Stella said as she looked over his shoulder. "Is there anyone else?"

"I once met the Duke of Manhattan." The Doctor said turning round. "Is there any way of getting through to him?"

"Oh now, ain't you lordly?" Brannigan said.

"We've got to find our friend." The Doctor said urgently.

"You can't make outside calls. The motorway's completely enclosed." Valerie explained.

"Well what about the other cars?" Stella asked.

"Oh, we've got contact with them, yeah. Well, some of them, anyway. They've got to be on your friends list." Brannigan said as he turned to his comm. "Now, let's see. Who's nearby? Ah, the Cassini sisters!" On the screen a picture of two older women and a number, 3-1-7-a-1 pops up. "Still your hearts, my handsome girls. It's Brannigan here."

"Get off the line, Brannigan. You're a pest and a menace." A woman's voice replied.

"Oh, come on, now, sisters. Is that any way to talk to an old friend?" Brannigan asked with mock hurt.

"You know full well we're not sisters. We're married." Alice replied.

"Ooo, stop that modern talk. I'm an old-fashioned cat." Brannigan said with a chuckle. "Now, I've got a pair of hitchhikers here, call themselves the Doctor and Stella."

"Hello. Sorry. I'm looking for someone called Martha Jones. She's been carjacked." The Doctor said taking the comm. "She's inside one of these vehicles, but I don't know which one."

"Wait a minute. Could I ask, what entrance did they use?" May asked.

"Where were we?" Stella asked.

"Pharmacy Town." Brannigan answered.

"Pharmacy Town." The Doctor repeated. "About twenty minutes ago."

"Let's have a look." May said looking through her book.

"Just my luck to marry a car-spotter." Alice said.

"In the last half hour, fifty three new cars joined from the Pharmacy Town junction." May said looking over her notes.

"Anything more specific?" The Doctor asked.

"All in good time." May said. "Was she car-jacked by two people?"

"Yes, she was, yeah." Stella said quickly.

"There we are. Just one of those cars was destined for the fast lane. That means they had three on board. And car number is four six five diamond six." May said.

"That's it! So how do we find them?" The Doctor asked.

"Ah. Now there I'm afraid I can't help." May answered.

"Call them on this thing. We've got their number. Diamond six." Stella said gesturing to the comm.

"But not if they're designated fast lane. It's a different class." Brannigan said.

"You could try the police." May said.

"They put me on hold." The Doctor said.

"You'll have to keep trying. There's no one else." Alice said.

"Thank you." The Doctor replied disheartened.

-0-

"See? Another ten layers to go. We're scorching." Milo said right before a distant growling sound filled the compartment.

"What's that? It's coming from underneath." Martha said fearfully.

"It's that noise, doesn't it? It's like Kate said. The stories, they're true." Cheen replied.

"What stories?" Martha asked.

"It's the sound of the air vents. That's all." Milo said although he didn't look so sure. "The exhaust fumes travel down, so at the base of the tunnel they've got air vents."

"No, but the stories are much better. They say people go missing on the motorway." Cheen said mysteriously like she was telling a favorite ghost story. "Some cars just vanish, never to be seen again, because there's something living down there in the smoke. Something huge and hungry. And if you get lost on the road, it's waiting for you."

Another distant roar sounds causing the occupants of the car to shift uncomfortably.

"But like I said. Air vents." Milo said stiffly. "Going down to the next layer."

"Except look out there. Does it look like the air vents are working?" Martha asked looking out into the dense smog fog.

"No." Cheen said nervously.

"So what's that, then?" Martha asked as another roar sounded, this time closer.

"Nah." Milo brushed her off. "Kid stuff. Car four six five diamond six, on descent."

-0-

"We've got to go to the fast lane. Take us down." The Doctor ordered.

"Not a million years." Brannigan replied shaking his head.

"You've got more than three passengers." Stella argued.

"I'm still not going." Brannigan said stubbornly.

"She's alone and she's lost. She doesn't belong on this planet, and it's all my fault." The Doctor said desperately. "I'm asking you, Brannigan, take me down."

"That's a no. And that's final." Valerie snapped. "I'm not risking the children down there."

"Why not? What's the risk? What happens down there?" Stella asked not liking the sound of Martha being so close to danger if there was danger.

"We're not discussing it. The conversation is closed." Valerie said sternly.

"So we keep on driving." The Doctor said getting frustrated.

"Yes, we do." Brannigan said with a stiff nod.

"For how long?" Stella asked in exasperation.

"Till the journey's end." Brannigan said starring off into the distance. The Doctor grabbed the radio handset.

"Mrs. Cassini, this is the Doctor. Tell me, how long have you been driving on the motorway?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, we were amongst the first. It's been twenty three years now." Alice replied.

"And in all that time, have you ever seen a police car?" The Doctor asked looking over to Brannigan as he talked.

"I'm not sure." May stuttered out.

"Look at your notes. Any police?" The Doctor went on. Brannigan started to look nervous as did Valerie. The Doctor was asking the unasked questions that were the foundation of the lie they wrapped themselves in like a safety blanket.

"Not as such." May said evasively.

"Or an ambulance?" The Doctor went on. "Rescue service? Anything official. Ever."

"I can't keep a note of everything." May defended herself.

"What if there's no one out there?" The Doctor asked right before Brannigan snatched the mike back.

"Stop it. The Cassinis were doing you a favor." Brannigan admonished the Doctor.

"Someone's got to ask, because you might not talk about it, but it's there in your eyes." Stella said lowly as she starred down at Brannigan.

"What if the traffic jam never stops?" The Doctor asked.

"There's a whole city above us. The mighty city state of New New York. They wouldn't just leave us." Brannigan grasped desperately.

"In that case, where are they, hmm? What if there's no help coming, not ever? What if there's nothing?" The Doctor said.

"Just the motorway, with the cars going round and round and round and round, never stopping." Stella said looking out the windshield at all of the cars. "Forever."

"Shut up! Just shut up!" Valerie snapped.

"This is Sally Calypso, and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation." Sally calypso said as she came on screen.

"You think you know us so well, Doctor, Stella. But we're not abandoned. Not while we have each other." Brannigan said as he held Valerie's hand.

"This is for all of you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive safe." Sally said.

"On a hill, far away, stood an old, rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. And I love that old cross, where the dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain. So I'll cherish the old rugged cross, till my trophies at last I lay down. I will cling to the old rugged cross, and exchange it someday for a crown."

Everyone on the motorway joins in, including Martha, but excluding the Doctor and Stella, though their hands found each other as they listened.

-0-

"Fast lane access. Please drive safely." The Computer said.

"We made it. The fast lane." Milo said as they head down and along the empty fast lane, level 50.

-0-

"If you won't take me, I'll go down on my own." The Doctor said as he kneels down next to the hatch at the bottom of the car.

"No without me you don't." Stella said taking off her jacket and throwing it on the bed. "Martha's my friend to."

"You barely met her." The Doctor argued.

"Oh and you've know her oh so long." Stella replied rolling her eyes. The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but gave up in sight of the look she was giving him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Brannigan asked watching them.

"Finding my own way. I usually do." The Doctor sonics open a trapdoor in the floor of the car.

"Capsule open." The Computer said as a car stops directly beneath them.

"Here we go." The Doctor said sitting on the edge of the opening then took off his coat and throws it to Valerie. "Look after this. I love that coat. Janis Joplin gave me that coat."

"But you can't jump." Valerie told him.

"If it's any consolation, Valerie, right now, I'm having kittens." The Doctor said.

"This Martha. She must mean an awful lot to you." Brannigan said.

"Hardly know her. I was too busy showing off. And I lied to her. Couldn't help it, just lied." The Doctor said with some guilt. "Bye then."

The Doctor dropped onto the roof of the car below followed by Stella.

"He's completely insane! They both are." Valerie said shaking her head.

"That, and a bit magnificent!" Brannigan said in admiration.

-0-

The Doctor soniced open the roof hatch and dropped in on a man with very pale skin, wearing a white suit in fact the whole car had a completely white interior.

"Capsule open."

"Who the hell are you?" The White man demanded.

"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol. We're doing a survey." The Doctor said quickly.

"How are you enjoying your motorway?" Stella asked as the Doctor sonics the floor hatch.

"Well, not very much. Junction Five's been closed for three years." The man replied.

"That is awful." Stella said nodding her head like she was really paying attention.

"Thank you. Your comments have been noted. Have a nice day!" The Doctor said as he opened the floor hatch and hung there until the next car stopped underneath him once again, Stella hot on his heels.

"Capsule open."

They jumped into the car and found two young Asian women in it. The Doctor wastes no time in opening the bottom hatch.

"Capsule open."

"Thank you for your cooperation. Your comments have been noted. Do you mind if I borrow this?" The Doctor asked as he picked up a paisley purple headscarf tying it around his mouth like a mask. "Not my color, but thank you very much."

"I think it kind of suits you." Stella said with a smile, glad for her air purification lungs once again, as they jumped to the next car.

"Capsule open."

"Ooo! Don't mind us." The Doctor said as they passed swiftly through the red man's car.

"Capsule open."

"Are we there yet?" Stella grumbled as they hopped from car to car.

"Don't start." The Doctor replied, shooting her a mock serious look.

-0-

"Try again." Cheen said as Milo taps Exit 1 on the monitor.

"Brooklyn turnoff one, closed."

"Try the next one." Cheen pressed and Milo does.

"Brooklyn turnoff two, closed."

"What do we do?" Cheen asked.

"We'll keep going round. We'll do the whole loop, and by the time we come back round, they'll be open." Milo answered simply.

A close by growl sounds and the car shudders.

"You're still calling that air vents?" Martha asked getting scarred.

"What else could it be?" Milo asked as the ship gave a greater shudder followed by a closer growl.

"What the hell is that?" Cheen asked fearfully.

"It's just the hydraulics." Milo said trying to hide his fear.

"It sounds like it's alive." Martha said.

"It's all exhaust fumes out there. Nothing could breathe in that." Milo argued.

"Calling Car four six five diamond six. Repeat, calling Car four six five diamond six." The comm came on.

"This is Car four six five diamond six. Who's that? Where are you?" Milo asked grabbing the handset.

"I'm in the fast lane, about fifty yards behind." She replied. "Can you get back up? Can you get off the fast lane?"

"We only have permission to go down. We need the Brooklyn Flyover." Milo answered and the sounds of the other car being attacked could be heard over the comm.

"It's closed. Go back up." She ordered.

"We can't. We'll just go round." Milo said.

"Don't you understand? They're closed. They're always closed." The woman snapped. "We're stuck down here, and there's something else out there in the fog. Can't you hear it?"

A big roar rips through the air louder and closer than any of the others that they had previously heard.

"That's the air vents." Milo said in denial.

"Jehovah, what are you?" The woman snapped again getting really frustrated. "Some stupid kid? Get out of here!"

The other car is hit hard the occupants screaming in fright.

"What was that?" Milo asked sounding scarred.

"I can't move!" The woman screamed. "They've got us!"

"But what's happening?" Milo asked.

"What's got you? What is it?" Martha yelled into the comm.

"Hang on. It's here. Just drive, you idiots! Get out of here!" The woman screamed as her passengers screamed as well then nothing but static.

"Can you hear me? Hello?" Milo tried desperately to call them back.

"Just drive! Do what she said. Get us out of here!" Martha ordered.

"But where?" Milo asked.

"Just straight ahead. And fast!" Martha snapped.

"What is it? What's out there? What is it?" Cheen asked in a terrified voice as their car is attacked while weaving through claw pinchers like those of crabs.

-0-

"Capsule open."

The Doctor drops in then turned around and helped Stella into the car of a man in a bowler hat and pinstripe suit.

"Excuse me, is that legal?" The man asked them.

"Probably not." Stella replied as the Doctor closed the hatch while practically coughing up his lungs.

"Sorry, Motorway Foot Patrol." The Doctor said then was hit by a hard cough fit.

"Whatever, doesn't matter. Have you got any water?" Stella asked looking to the Doctor in concern.

"Certainly. Never let it be said I've lost my manners." The man said filling up two tiny cones of water handing them each one of the cups.

The Doctor kicked back the water back sighing in relief as the smog is cleared from his throat. Stella handed him the other one and he was about to refuse it when he realized that she really didn't need it. As soon as he got back to the Tardis they were going to have to go over her enhancements and see what she could really do.

"Is this the last layer?" The Doctor asked.

"We're right at the bottom. Nothing below us but the fast lane." The man answered.

"Can we drive down? We have three now." Stella pointed out.

"I'd rather not." The man said right before a harsh growl sounded from below them.

"What's that noise?" The Doctor asked.

"I try not to think about it." The man replied.

"Then excuse me." The Doctor started to open the floor hatch as Stella kneeled down on the other side of the hatch.

"You can't jump. It's a thousand feet down." The man said watching them.

"No, I just want to look." The Doctor said opening the hatch and looking down into the thick smog dotted with lights. "What are those lights? What's down there? I just need to see." The Doctor sonics the car computer. "There must be some sort of ventilation. If I could just transmit a pulse through this thing, maybe I could trip the system, give us a bit of a breeze."

-0-

"Just what we need. Pirates!" Brannigan said as someone started to cut into the top of the car.

"I'm calling the police!" Valerie yelled grabbing the hand set as the hatch falls to the ground and Hame hangs upside down through the hatch.

"The Doctor and Stella, where are they?" Hame demanded pointing the gun at them.

-0-

"That's it! Might shift the fumes a bit, give us a good look." The Doctor said as he worked the wires. The smog clears revealing the crab like creatures below.

"What are those shapes?" The man asked.

"They're alive." Stella said watching as the giant claws snap up at them.

"What the hell are they?" The man asked as the smog rolled back in.

"Macra." The Doctor answered.

-0-

"Go faster!" Cheen yelled as their car was attacked.

"I'm at top speed!" Milo yelled back. The car weaved through the grabbing claws.

"No access above."

"But this is an emergency!" Milo yelled.

"Thank you for your call. You have been placed on hold."

"Turn everything off." Martha ordered.

"You've got to be joking." Milo replied.

"But listen, it's all fog out there, so how can they see us? Maybe it's the engines, the sound, or the heat, or the light. I don't know. Turn everything off. They might not be able to find us." Martha reasoned holding on tight to the back of the chairs as the car rocked violently.

"What if you're wrong?" Milo asked driving like crazy.

"It can't be worse than this! Just do it!" Martha screamed and reluctantly Milo listens. The car goes dark, and outside goes quiet.

"They've stopped." Cheen said.

"Yeah, but they're still out there." Milo said

"How did you think of that?" Cheen asked Martha.

"I saw it on a film. They used to do it in submarines. The trouble is, I can't remember what they did next." Martha answered.

"Well, you'd better think of something, because we've lost the aircon. If we don't switch the engines back on, we won't be able to breathe." Milo said.

"How long have we got?" Martha asked.

"Eight minutes, maximum." Milo answered.

-0-

"What happened to them? I mean I always expected them to come to a bad end eventually, but this…" Stella trailed off shaking her head as the man looked confused.

"The Macra used to be the scourge of this galaxy." The Doctor explained. "Gas. They fed off gas, the filthier the better. They built up a small empire using humans as slaves and mining gas for food."

"They don't exactly look like empire builders to me." The man said.

"Well, that was billions of years ago. Billions." The Doctor said. "They must have devolved down the years. Now they're just beasts. But they're still hungry and our friend's down there."

"Watch it." Stella said pulling the Doctor back as sparks rained down from the roof and the hatch fell where the Doctor had been standing.

"Oh, it's like New Times Square in here, for goodness's sake!" The man complained as Hame dropped in.

"We've invented a sport." The Doctor said sharing a grin with Stella before looking over the newcomer.

"Doctor, you're a hard man to find." Hame said with a smile.

"No guns. I'm not having guns." The man said.

"I only brought this in case of pirates. Doctor, you've got to come with me." Hame said urgently. "You and Stella."

"Do I know you?" The Doctor asked eyeing the cat woman.

"You haven't aged at all. Time has been less kind to me." Hame said looking down.

"Novice Hame!" The Doctor said with a smile hugging her then pushed her away. "No, hold on, get off. Last time we met, you were breeding humans for experimentation."

"I've sought forgiveness, Doctor, for so many years, under his guidance. And if you both come with me, I might finally be able to redeem myself." Hame said in shame.

"I'm not going anywhere. You've got Macra living underneath this city. Macra! And if my friend's still alive, she's stuck down there." The Doctor said angrily.

"You've got to come with me right now." Hame said.

"No, no, no, you're coming with us. We can get this man to another car and still have three passengers now." Stella pointed out although the man looked less than happy at this plan.

"I'm sorry, Doctor. But the situation is even worse than you can imagine." Hame grabs the Doctor's wrist as Stella grabs the Doctor to pull him away from her just as Hame hoped she'd do. "Transport."

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" The Doctor yelled. They beamed away in a flash of light leaving the man behind.

-0-

Hame Stella and the Doctor pick themselves up from the rubbish-strewn floor groaning in pain.

"What the heck was that?" Stella complained as she stumbled to her feet only to fall on her backside still dizzy. "That hurt."

"Oh! Rough teleport. Ow." The Doctor said helping Stella up before turning angrily to Hame. "You can go straight back down and teleport people out, starting with Martha."

"I only had the power for one trip." Hame replied.

"Then get some more!" The Doctor snapped.

"Where are we?" Stella asked looking around, trying to see through the darkness.

"High above, in the over-city." Hame answered.

"Good. Because you can tell the Senate of New New York I'd like a word. They have got thousands of people trapped on the motorway. Millions!" The Doctor said angrily.

"But you're inside the Senate, right now. May the goddess Santori bless them." Hame uses her teleport bracelet to turn on the lights revealing the senate populated by skeletons.

"What happened to them all?" Stella asked mouth hanging open in shock.

"They died. The city died." Hame answered.

"How long's it been like this?" The Doctor asked.

"Twenty four years." Hame replied.

"All of them? Everyone? What happened?" Stella asked.

"A new chemical. A new mood. They called it Bliss." Hame replied taking a patch off one of the skeletons. "Everyone tried it. They couldn't stop. A virus mutated inside the compound and became airborne. Everything perished. Even the virus, in the end. It killed the world in seven minutes flat. There was just enough time to close down the walkways and the flyovers, sealing off the under-city. Those people on the motorway aren't lost, they were saved."

"So the whole thing down there is running on automatic." The Doctor surmised.

"There's not enough power to get them out. We did all we could to stop the system from choking." Hame said.

"Who's we? How did you survive?" The Doctor asked.

"He protected me. And he has waited for you both, these long years." Hame said looking to the Doctor who exchanged looks of surprise with Stella.

"Doctor." A voice called out. "Stella."

"The Face of Boe!" The Doctor said as they rounded a corner following the voice.

"My dear friend." Stella smile running up to the glass, gently touching laying her hand on the glass. "I have missed you old man."

"I knew you would both come." Boe said smiling at Stella. "It is good to see you again little star."

"Back in the old days, I was made his nurse as penance for my sin." Hame said.

"Old friend, what happened to you?" The Doctor said walking up next to where Stella was kneeling in front of Boe looking worriedly at him.

"Failing." Boe breathed out.

"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke. But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died. The under-city would have fallen into the sea." Hame said with admiration.

"So he saved them." The Doctor said.

"The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe. He's giving his life force just to keep things running." Hame said.

"But there are planets out there. You could have called for help." Stella said, not liking the way Boe looked. It was obvious that he was weak and that scared her more than anything she had ever faced before.

"The last act of the Senate was to declare New Earth unsafe. The automatic quarantine lasts for one hundred years." Hame replied as Stella laid her forehead against the glass of the tank her eyes shut tight. The Doctor gave her a worried look seeing how worried she was for her friend.

"So the two of you stayed here, on your own for all these years." The Doctor said looking to Hame.

"We had no choice." Hame said looking down and away.

"Yes, you did." The Doctor said placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Save them, Doctor, little star." Boe pleaded.

-0-

"How much air's left?" Cheen asked. The car was stifling and everyone was sweating hard.

"Two minutes." Milo answered.

"There's always the Doctor and Stella. Those friends of mine, they might think of something." Martha said encouragingly.

"Martha, no one's coming." Milo said bitterly.

"He looked kind of nice, that guy." Cheen commented.

"He's a bit more than that." Martha said.

"Are you and him…" Cheen asked.

"Sometimes I think he likes me, but sometimes I just think he needs someone with him." Martha said with a shrug.

"What about the other girl? Stella, are he and she together?" Milo asked.

"I don't know, she's an old friend of the Doctors, I've only just met her." Martha said shaking her head. "She didn't have a place to go so the Doctor offered to take her in for a bit. She's becoming a good friend though."

"I never even asked. Where's home?" Cheen asked.

"It's a long way away. I didn't really think. I just followed the Doctor, and they don't even know where I am. My mum and dad. If I died here, they'd never know." Martha said sadly in realization.

"So, er, who is he, then, this Doctor?" Milo changed the subject.

"I don't know. Well, not really. There's so much he never says." Martha said shaking her head.

"And you only just met Stella?" Milo asked feeling like their hope were plummeting.

"But that means that the only hope right now are two complete strangers." Cheen said panic building. "Well, that's no use."

"It is, though, because you haven't seen the things he can do or what she can do either. Honestly, just trust me, both of you. You've got your faith, you've got your songs and your hymns, and I've got the Doctor and Stella." Martha said confidently.

"Right." Milo turns the car back on.

"Systems back online."

"Good luck." Milo said.

"And you." Martha said as they fly off again through the snatching claws.

-0-

"I just need to plug this into here and move this here." Stella said as she and the Doctor worked on the machines. "Just one more connection and there, check it out."

"Car four six five diamond six. It still registers! That's Martha." The Doctor cheered. "I knew she was good. Novice Hame, hold that in place. Think, think, think, think. Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity grid."

"Got it." Stella called out running around the machines.

"There isn't enough power." Hame said.

"Oh, you've got power. You've got me. I'm brilliant with computers, just you watch." The Doctor said.

"And I'm not half bad either so just you watch what to mega geniuses can do." Stella said running around the room from console to console. "Hame, every switch on that bank up to maximum."

"We can't power up the city, but all the city needs is people." The Doctor said.

"So what are you going to do?" Hame asked.

"This!" The Doctor throws a big switch and the lights go out. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no."

"The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through." Stella called out trying to fix the problem.

"Doctor. Little star." Boe called out.

"Yeah, hold on, not now." The Doctor said working frantically along with Stella.

"I give you my last…" Boe trailed off as he concentrated causing the power to come back to the computer.

"Hame, look after him. Don't you go dying on me, you big old face." The Doctor said as he ran over to a window. "You've got to see this. The open road. Ha!"

-0-

"What in Jehovah was that?" Brannigan asked as a clanging sounded from above.

"It's coming from above!" Valerie said holding the basket containing her babies close.

"What is it? What's happening?!" Brannigan looked out through the roof hatch. "By all the cats in the kingdom!"

The roof over the motorway starts to open.

"What is it?" Valerie asked as daylight streams in. "What is it? It's the sun! Oh, Brannigan. Children, it's the sunlight."

"Sorry, no Sally Calypso. She was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor." The Doctor said appearing on the computer screen.

"He's a magician." Brannigan cheered.

"And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now." The Doctor ordered.

"Is he serious?" Brannigan asked.

"I've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you. The whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast!" The Doctor said.

"Here we go." Brannigan said.

"We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way." The Doctor said. "Oi! Car four six five diamond six. Martha! Drive up! If you don't get up here quick, Stella is going to have a conniption. Nearly worried herself into a fit."

"Oi! I had no doubt that she'd make it." Stella said from off screen. "Martha is way too smart for anything to happen to her."

"That's the Doctor and Stella!" Martha said with a smile.

"We can't go up! We'll hit the layer!" Milo said.

"Just do as he says! Go up!" Martha ordered.

"You've got access above. Now go!" The Doctor said. Milo steers the car up out of the reach of the Macra.

"It's daylight. Oh my God, that's the sky. The real sky." Cheen said close to tears.

"They did it! I told you, they did it!" Martha cheered.

-0-

"Did I tell you, Doctor? You're not bad, sir. You're not bad at all! Oh, yee-hah!" Brannigan said over the comm.

"You keep driving, Brannigan. All the way up. Because it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New New York, and it's yours. And don't forget I want that coat back." The Doctor said.

"I reckon that's a fair bargain, sir." Brannigan replied.

"And Car four six five diamond six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate." The Doctor said.

"On my way." Martha said.

"It's been quite a while since I saw you, Martha Jones." The Doctor said with a smile.

"Martha it is so good to hear your voice, I have been going crazy being alone with this man." Stella joked nudging him.

"Oi, people love being around me." The Doctor said nudging her back.

"Doctor! Stella!" Hame called out. Stella and the Doctor ran back over to Hame and Boe as big cracks in the glass were spreading across his tank at an alarming rate.

"No." Stella breathed out as the cracks grew until they shattered. She rushed forward catching Boe with the Doctor and Hames help lowering him gently to the ground.

-0-

"Doctor? Stella?" Martha called out as she ran into the senate seeing all of the skeletons.

"Over here." The Doctor called back softly.

"Doctor! What happened out there?" Martha stopped short at the scene before her. The Face of Boe is out of his tank with Stella kneeling next to him tears streaming down her face as she stroked his forehead. "What's that?"

"It's the Face of Boe. It's all right. Come and say hello." The Doctor motioned her over. "And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry. He's the one that saved you, not me."

"My lord gave his life to save the city, and now he's dying." Hame said sadly causing Stella to sob hard.

"No, don't say that. Not old Boe. Plenty of life left." The Doctor argued, glancing to Stella.

"It's good to breathe the air once more." Boe said.

"Who is he?" Martha asked.

"I don't even know. Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now." The Doctor said.

"Everything has its time. You know that, old friend, better than most." Boe said as Stella bowed her head so that it rest against Boe's.

"You can't leave me, please." Stella said through her tears. "You have been the closest thing to real family that I have had in so long."

"The legend says more." Hame said.

"Don't. There's no need for that." The Doctor said shaking his head sending a concerned look to Stella.

"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveler." Hame went on.

"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?" The Doctor said looking over to Stella whose whole body started to shake her eyes screwed shut and teeth grinding trying to hold back her pain.

"I have seen so much. Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor." Boe said softly.

"That's why we have to survive. Both of us. Don't go." The Doctor pleaded.

"I must. But know this, Time Lord. You are not alone." Boe said causing the Doctor's eyes to go wide in shock.

"Pease don't…" Stella sobbed.

"I will always love you my friend, my little star, my daughter. I leave you in good hands." Boe said then breathes out for one last time, and closes his eyes. Sobs wrack Stella's body as she cried out her pain, her heart ripping to shreds.

"Come back, please, come back. I don't have anyone else, please, I don't want to be alone again." Stella wailed dissolving into weeping. "Please, please…"

The Doctor kneeled down next to her pulling her into a hug as she clung to him tears streaming down her face as he rocked her back and forth. Martha joined them in the tight hug and the Doctor reached out for Hame pulling her into the hug as well.

-0-

Later found them walking back through pharmacy town. Martha had her arm around Stella who laid her head on her shoulder the Doctor holding her hand as they walked talking softly back and forth. Her eyes were still red rimmed and her voice slightly hoarse.

"He was the one who helped me through the losses that I had suffered for so many years, helped me adapt to what I had become, and the drug addiction problem I had used to cope with my life. He was always there for me when I needed him, no matter what." Stella said as they walked, her eyes watering still.

"He sounds like a really great person." Martha commented giving Stella a gentle squeeze.

"Oh he was." Stella smiled softly as well as sadly as they walked into the market area which was now abandoned.

"What happened here?" Martha asked looking around at what was left.

"All closed down." The Doctor replied glancing into one of the stalls.

"Sure sent them running fast." Stella said.

"Happy?" Martha asked.

"Happy happy." The Doctor replied. "New New York can start again. And they've got Novice Hame."

"Just what every city needs. Cats in charge." Stella said with a smile.

"Come on, time we were off." The Doctor said leading them up to the Tardis.

"But what did he mean, the Face of Boe? You're not alone." Martha asked.

"I don't know." The Doctor replied.

"You've got me. Is that what he meant?" Martha asked. "That you've got me and Stella?"

"I don't think so. Sorry." The Doctor said shaking his head.

"Then what?" Martha asked a little tensely.

"Doesn't matter. Back to the Tardis, off we go." The Doctor said walking ahead of them allowing Stella's hand to slip from his. Martha straightens up a chair and sits down, arms and legs crossed as Stella stood next to her.

"All right, are you staying?" The Doctor asked.

"Till you talk to me properly, yes. He said last of your kind. What does that mean?" Martha asked.

"It really doesn't matter." The Doctor replied.

"You don't talk. You never say. Why not?" Martha asked as the Doctor looks away. Softly the sound of the city singing starts up.

"It's the city." Stella said. "They're singing."

Stella looked to the Doctor then set up two more chairs in front of Martha's and motioning for him to take one. He looked at her for a moment as she sat down and held out her hand to him.

"People don't always need advice. Sometimes all they really need is a hand to hold, an ear to listen, and a heart to understand them. Boe taught me that." Stella said gently, knowing what he was keeping from Martha. "Martha and I, we're here for you."

The Doctor gave them a small smile as he sat down taking one of their offered hands in one of his.

"I lied to you, because I liked it. I could pretend. Just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky." The Doctor said gripping Stella and Martha's hands. "I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else."

"What happened?" Martha asked.

"There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War." The Doctor explained. "My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost. They're all gone now. My family, my friends, even that sky. Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song..."

-0-

Stella sang 'You'll Never Walk Alone' as Martha and the Doctor watched silently, respectfully while she said her goodbyes to her dear friend in the best way she could. In her hands she held a single long stimmed red rose, the favorite flower of Boe's with a white ribbon that held a glowing star charm on it. Her eyes were closed as tears streamed down her face; Martha was so moved by the song that she too was crying.

When she was done her head hung for a moment before walking to the open TARDIS doors. She walked to the very edge then laid a light kiss on the rose before releasing it to sail amongst the stars.

She watched it as it floated away before slowly backing into the TARDIS closing the doors. She laid her forehead against the door her eyes squeezed shut. The Doctor walked up to her gently placing a hand on her shoulder and turning her around to face him.

"Say not in grief that he is no more, but say in thankfulness that he was. A death is not the extinguishing of a light, but the putting out of the lamp because the dawn has come." The Doctor quoted Rabindranath Tagore softly as he pulled her into a tight hug while she sobbed, Martha soon joining them.

"Thank you both, for being here for me." Stella breathed out.

"Anytime." Martha said softly.


	8. Chapter 8

The Laurenzi presents - New York Revue is displayed in bright lights above a small theatre. The music is distinctive of the 1920's. Inside a showgirl in skimpy red costume with red feather fans is hurrying along the hall way back stage followed by more similarly dressed girls.

"Two minutes to curtain up! Come on!" One of the show girls shouted.

"Two minutes to curtain up!" Another voice shouted.

"Where's Tallulah?" The showgirl asked.

"Where do you think?" Another replied as she knocks on the star's dressing room door. "Hey, Tallulah, leave him alone!"

The chorus head for the stage laughing while a clown down looks sadly at his three juggling balls that were knocked out of his hands by them.

Inside the stars dressing room Tallulah's in costume which is white with wings and a halo of an angel. She is kissing her boyfriend with a happy passion.

"It's nearly show time, Laszlo. I got to go." Tallulah said pulling away a little her face smiling brightly.

"Just promise me you'll come on Sunday, okay? My mother will kill me if she doesn't get to meet you." Lazlo said with his arms still around her.

"What if she doesn't like me?" Tallulah asked worriedly.

"Tallulah, she'll love you just as much as I do." Lazlo replied.

"Oh, you say the sweetest things." Tallulah said with an even brighter smile.

"It's true. Now, promise me, Sunday you'll come." Lazlo pressed.

"I promise. Cross my heart." Tallulah said crossing her heart.

"Oh, here. Take this, sweetheart." Lazlo said as he gave her a white rose which she takes with a loving look. "Wear it on stage and think of me."

"Tallulah!" A voice called out.

"I'm coming! Quit yelling!" Tallulah yelled back then turned back to Lazlo. "How do I look?"

"Like an angel." Lazlo replied giving her one last kiss before she leaves the room.

Tallulah blows one last kiss before heading up the stairs to the stage, where the audience are already whistling and cheering.

"Wish me luck, Lazlo!" Tallulah called out.

"Break a leg, sweetheart." Lazlo called out before walking back into the dressing room. Something runs past the open doorway gaining his attention and he walks back out of the room. "Tallulah?" There is a strange grunting sound. Laszlo sees something run across a corridor out of the corner of his eye, and follows it. "Who's there?" Lazlo walked down the hall and into the prop room. "Hello? Hello? Who's there? Who are you?"

He strikes a match from a book and comes face to face with a wooden pirate startling him. He laughed nervously to himself turning away from it. Then a pig in a boiler suit runs at him on its hind legs.

-0-

Stella was curled up on a couch before a large fire place in one of the larger library's she had ever been in. Martha had gone to wash up and rest from their latest adventure and Stella, after she had cleaned up herself, had gone wondering aimlessly, to restless to rest.

She had been passing an oak double door when they had suddenly opened up revealing the fire and a blanket thrown over the couch that was now wrapped around her. There was also a box of tissues on a side table next to the couch and a mug of hot chocolate. She knew that the Tardis was telepathic and sentient so she thanked her before taking a seat.

She sniffled every so often, a tissue pressed to her nose, as she thought over her times with the Face of Boe. The trips to far off places, the parties they had gone to, quiet nights where he told her such fantastic stories, and the way he had always watched out for her. A new stream of tears descended from her eyes as the tender memories played out before her minds eyes.

She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't hear the doors open nor the approach of footsteps as the Doctor walked up behind her, looking to the things the Tardis had obviously laid out for her, it was rare for the Tardis to take to someone so fast. A sob from Stella broke him out of his observations, his brows drawing together in sympathy.

"Stella." He said softly causing her to start.

"Oh, Doctor, I'm sorry, I just needed a place to…calm down and collect myself…the door…" Stella stumbled as she started to stand, but the Doctor stopped her placing a hand on her shoulder.

"It's ok." The Doctor assured her taking a seat next to her. "The Tardis seems to like you."

"I'm honored." Stella wiped her eyes. "She's very kind."

"It's going to be ok Stella." The Doctor said softly, taking hold of her hand.

"I know and one day I won't cry every time that I think of him. I'll smile and laugh at the crazy things we'd done, the adventures we had, and become strong enough to shoulder the pain." Stella replied with a sniff as she gripped the Doctor's hand tightly in her own. "But just not right now."

The Doctor looked at her, taking in the way her eyes shinned with the memories of her friend, the small sad smile playing along her full soft lips, and the way the fire cast its flickering light across her features. Without thinking he reached up wiping away one of the tears from her cheek then slowly stroking her cheek as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She gazed up at him, her eyes shining with tears, as he gazed down at her.

"Doctor! Stella! Where are you?" Martha called out causing them to spring apart, not realizing how close they had become.

"We're in here." The Doctor called out, clearing his throat looking away from Stella, red cheeked just as Stella was blushing like mad starring back at the fire.

"Oh, I've been looking all over the place. Wow, look at this, this whole place is…amazing!" Martha commented as she walked into the library and over to them, her face becoming concerned as she looked to Stella. "How are you doing Stella?"

"A lot better, the Doctor is very good at words of comfort." Stella said with a nod as she stood to her feet with the Doctor. "And you know what I could use right now?"

"What?" The Doctor asked and she grinned.

"A new adventure, what do you guys say?" Stella smiled.

"I'm in." Martha said in excitement, both of them looking to the Doctor.

"Well, let's see what I can come up with." The Doctor said leading them back to the console room.

-0-

The Tardis materialized in one of the corners of an eleven pointed Army base exterior wall. Martha was the first out followed by Stella once again wearing her ring taking away her cyborg tells and the Doctor who was grinning like the mad man he was.

"Where are we?" Martha asked as they looked out of a city scape across a river from them.

"Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze. Nice and cold. Lovely. Martha, Stella, have you met my friend?" The Doctor asked gesturing behind them. Martha and Stella turn around looking up at the Statue of Liberty in all of her glory.

"Is that? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty." Martha breathed out in excitement.

"Gateway to the New World. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." The Doctor quoted.

"That's so brilliant." Martha said. "I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one."

"It's amazing!" Stella said as she looked around bouncing on her heels. "It looks so different from the ones I've lived in and seen."

"Well, there's the genuine article. So good, they named it twice." The Doctor said looking over the city with them. "Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam."

"I wonder what year it is, because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet." Martha pointed out.

"Work in progress. Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history that makes the date somewhere around…" The Doctor started, but Martha cut in picking up a newspaper from a nearby bench.

"November first 1930." Martha said.

"You're getting good at this." The Doctor said looking down at her then saw the paper she held and took it from her.

"Eighty years ago. It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are." Martha said taking it all in as Stella looked over the shoulder of the Doctor reading the paper as well. "It's real. It's now. Come on then, you two. Where do you want to go first?"

"I think our detour just got longer." The Doctor said showing Martha the paper.

"Hooverville Mystery Deepens." Martha read off. "What's Hooverville?"

-0-

"Herbert Hoover, thirty first President of the USA, came to power a year ago." The Doctor explained as they walked through the park. "Up till then New York was a boom town, the Roaring Twenties, and then…"

"The Wall Street Crash, yeah? When was that, 1929?" Martha guessed.

"Yeah. Whole economy wiped out overnight. Thousands of people unemployed. All of a sudden, the huddled masses doubled in number with nowhere to go. So, they ended up here in Central Park." The Doctor gestured around them.

"What, they actually live in the park? In the middle of the city?" Martha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Ordinary people lost their jobs. Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything." Stella said as they walked through the shanty town. "There are places like this all over America, no one helping them. You only came to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go."

"You thieving lowlife!" Someone shouted right before a fight broke out. Two men started to beat the way out of each other shouting at the same time. Another man comes out of his tent and walks hurriedly over to the fight.

"Cut that out! Cut that out right now!" The man said breaking the two men apart.

"He stole my bread!" The first man accused of the second.

"That's enough! Did you take it?" Solomon demanded.

"I don't know what happened. He just went crazy." The second man defended himself.

"That's enough! Now, think real careful before you lie to me." Solomon said sternly.

"I'm starving, Solomon." The second man said. Solomon holds out his hand, and the second man takes the bread out from inside his coat.

"We all starving. We all got families somewhere." Solomon said gives each man half of the loaf. "No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got."

The two fighters begrudgingly walk away glaring at each other.

"Come on." The Doctor said as they walked over to Solomon. "I suppose that makes you the boss around here."

"And, er, who might you be?" Solomon asked looking them over.

"He's the Doctor. I'm Martha and this is Stella." Martha introduced them.

"A doctor. Huh. Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor." Solomon said as he gestured around them. "Neighborhood gets classier by the day."

"How many people live here?" Stella asked as she looked around.

"At any one time, hundreds, no place else to go, but I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society, black, white, all the same, all starving. So you're welcome, all three of you." Solomon said. "But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me, that there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?"

-0-

Up at the top of the unfinished Empire State Building, where building work is still going on, men are standing on the scaffolding and pulling up buckets.

"Right, no more!"

"Hoist!"

Inside the structure, a man is sitting at a desk looking at blueprints while the foreman paces.

"I'm telling you, the men won't stand for it. I mean, are you out of your mind?" The Foreman demanded in agitation. "I got five hundred men working seven days a week. They're flat out, and you want us to go faster?"

"The new masters demand it." Diagoras replied.

"But we're on schedule. What's the problem? Another month and we'll be done." The Foreman replied gesturing to the blueprints.

"The mast on this building needs extra work completed by tonight." Diagoras said.

"Tonight? No way. It's impossible." The Foreman said.

"That's an order." Diagoras said angrily.

"Yeah? Well, one word from me and every man on this site stops working." The Foreman said lowering his hat over his eyes a little and looking down his nose at Diagoras. "So go on. Tell your masters that."

"If that's your attitude, I think that you should tell them yourself." Diagoras said walking over to the elevator and pressing the button.

"Yeah? Well, I ain't afraid of no man in a suit." The Forman said as the lift starts up. "These er, these new bosses? What's their names?"

"I think you could say they're from out of town." Diagoras said smugly.

"Italians?" The Foreman guessed.

"A bit further than that." Diagoras said.

"How much further?" The Foreman asked.

"Beyond your imagination." Diagoras replied.

"What's that supposed to mean? Who are they? Mister Diagoras, who're we working for?" The Foreman demanded as the lift comes up from the bottom to floor 100.

"Behold your masters." Diagoras said as the lift doors open to reveal one of the Cult of Skaro Dalek number 3 with by two pigmen.

"What the hell?" The Foreman breathed out.

"I have been summoned. Explain. Explain." The Dalek screeched.

"It can talk. How does it talk? And what the hell are they? You got to be kidding me." The Foreman starting to panic.

"I'm sorry, my lord, but this man is refusing to complete the work." Diagoras explained.

"Then we must replace him." The Dalek said.

"Is anybody going to tell me what the hell is happening here?" The Foreman nearly yelled.

"Use him. Take him for the Final Experiment." The Dalek ordered. The pigmen took hold of the foreman and bundle him into the lift.

"Hey, what's going on? Let go! Let go of me! Get off me, you freaks! Mister Diagoras, will you tell them?" The Foreman screamed out as the lift went back down.

"The Empire State Building must be completed in time." The Dalek said as it made its way over to an opening in the building overlooking the city.

"It will be. Trust me. Labor is cheap and that man can be replaced." Diagoras said.

"The plan must not fail. We calculate the gamma strike has accelerated. We need more bodies immediately." The Dalek said.

"Yes, Master." Diagoras replied.

-0-

"So, men are going missing. Is this true?" The Doctor asked Solomon who was tossing the contents of his coffee pot out.

"It's true all right." Solomon replied as he walked back into his tent.

"But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register." The Doctor pressed as he looked into the tent.

"Come on in." Solomon said gesturing to them. They filed in taking what available seating they could. "This is different."

"In what way?" Martha asked.

"Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air." Solomon explained.

"And you're sure someone's taking them?" The Doctor asked.

"Maybe they just decided to move on." Stella suggested.

"Doctor, Stella, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning." Solomon said.

"Have you been to the police?" Martha asked.

"Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal." Solomon said bitterly.

"So the question is, who's taking them?" The Doctor said.

"And what for?" Stella added crossing her arms and leaning back looking thoughtful.

"Solomon!" Frank called out and the rushed into the tent. "Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here."

-0-

"I need men. Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money." Diagoras said standing on a box flanked by two henchmen. A crowd was gathered around him which they joined as they listened to him speak.

"Yeah. What is the money?" Frank asked.

"A dollar a day." Diagoras replied.

"What's the work?" Solomon asked.

"A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?" Diagoras asked.

"A dollar a day? That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they." Solomon challenged.

"Accidents happen." Diagoras replied.

"What do you mean? What sort of accidents?" The Doctor asked.

"You don't need the work? That's fine. Anybody else?" Diagoras avoided the question. The Doctor raised his hand shortly followed by Stella.

"Enough with the questions." Diagoras snapped.

"Oh, no, no, no. We're volunteering. We'll go." Stella said with a bright smile as Martha reluctantly raised her hand as well.

"I'll kill you both for this." Martha grumbled.

"Oh come on Martha, where's your sense of adventure?" Stella teased.

"Anybody else?" Diagoras asked. Both Frank and Solomon raised their hands.

-0-

"Turn left. Go about a half a mile. Follow tunnel two seven three." Diagoras informed them when they entered the sewers. "Fall's right ahead of you, you can't miss it."

"And when do we get our dollar?" Frank asked.

"When you come back up." Diagoras replied.

"And if we don't come back up?" The Doctor asked.

"Then I got no one to pay." Diagoras said in a snide voice.

"Don't worry, we'll be back." Solomon said and walked away followed by Frank, Rhea walking behind them.

"Let's hope so." Martha said as she joined Frank. The Doctor stared into Diagoras' eyes for a few moments, and then follows the others falling into step beside Rhea.

"He's up to something." Stella mumbled.

"I know." The Doctor replied quietly, neither of them wanting to alert the others before they needed to. "Just don't know what yet."

"We just got to stick together. It's easy to get lost." Frank said as they went on. "It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here."

"So what about you, Frank? You're not from around these parts, are you?" Martha asked starting up a conversation with the young man.

"Oh, you could talk." Frank said with a laugh. "No, I'm Tennessee born and bred."

"So how come you're here?" Martha asked.

"Oh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads." Frank answered with a shrug. "There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us. So, what about you? You're a long way from home."

"Yeah, I'm just a hitcher too." Martha answered.

"You stick with me, you'll be all right." Frank said sharing a smile with her.

"So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?" The Doctor asked as he and Stella walked to the front of the group with Solomon.

"A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman. Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan." Solomon answered.

"How'd he manage that then?" Stella asked in confusion.

"These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round." Solomon answered.

"Whoa!" The Doctor said looking down at a luminous green jellyfish lying on the ground in front of them.

"Is it radioactive or something?" Martha then got a whiff of it. "It's gone off, whatever it is." Martha said wincing at the smell while the Doctor kneeled down and picked it up giving it a good long sniff. "And you've got to pick it up."

"Shine your torch through it." The Doctor said as Stella leaned over starring at it. Martha showed her light through it. "Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?"

"It's not human. I know that." Martha answered.

"No, it's not." The Doctor said. "Stella?"

"I have no idea; I'm tech support not organic refuse management." Stella said with a shrug. "But if I had to guess I'd say that this was made for a purpose then rejected, there's work that's been put into this."

"Your right." The Doctor said with a nod then stood up. "And I'll tell you something else. We must be at least half a mile in. I don't see any sign of a collapse, do you?"

"There's nothing here." Stella said looking around. "So why did Mister Diagoras send up down here?"

"Where are we now? What's above us?" Martha asked.

"Well, we're right underneath Manhattan." The Doctor answered looking up.

-0-

"And here, the crowning glory of the Empire State Building, the mast itself." Diagoras said to a group of workers. They were all gathered in the room at the top of the building looking over the blueprints. "One thousand four hundred and seventy two feet above New York."

"It's a beautiful thing, sir, and every single one of us is proud of it." The new Foreman said. "My wife says it's like a, like a spire reaching into Heaven."

"Except the Gates of Heaven need a little decoration." Diagoras said. "These plates have got to be fixed to the mast, right to the base itself."

He shows them three plates with a row of four domes on each of them.

"That's okay. It's not too bad. Shouldn't take too long." The Foreman said with a shrug as the others agreed.

"But the work has got to be finished tonight." Diagoras said causing the five men to protest.

"What, are you trying to kill us? We're flat out up here! Come on." The Forman argued.

"Don't argue with me!" Diagoras snapped.

"But sir, men can't work up there at night. It's freezing. Your hands go numb. You lose your grip, you fall." The Foreman pleaded.

"You don't get it. If you won't work I can replace you like that! Now take those panels and get going." Diagoras ordered. The men exchange glances before one of them reluctantly steps forward and picks up a panel.

"What sort of metal is this anyway?" The man asked struggling more than he thought he would have to with the heavy metal.

"Don't ask questions, just go." Diagoras snapped. Two more men pick up the last panels, the Foreman pausing, looking angrily into Diagoras's eyes, but still does as he is told.

"And I don't care how cold it is, how tired you are. Just get out there and finish the job!" Diagoras ordered loudly as they left the room and few moments later, a Dalek enters from the lift.

"The conductor must be complete for our plan to succeed." The Dalek said.

"Unemployment is such an incentive. It'll get done, don't worry." Diagoras said following the Dalek to the opening in the building.

"Daleks have no concept of worry." The Dalek replied.

"Yeah? Well, lucky you." Diagoras said looking out over the city.

"This day is ending. Humankind is weak. You shelter from the dark." The Dalek said also looking out over the city. "And yet, you have built all this."

"That's progress. You got to move with the times or you get left behind." Diagoras said.

"My planet is gone, destroyed in a great war, yet versions of this city stand throughout history." The Dalek said. "The human race always continues."

"We've had wars. I've been a soldier myself, and I swore then I'd survive, no matter what." Diagoras said.

"You have rare ambition." The Dalek said.

"I want to run this city, whatever it takes, by any means necessary." Diagoras stated.

"You think like a Dalek." The Dalek said.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Diagoras said.

-0-

The other two gold Daleks join the Black Dalek to see what the other Dalek is looking at.

"This human is our best option. Bring him to me." The black Dalek, Dalek Sec ordered.

-0-

"Your loyalty will be rewarded. Come with me." The Dalek told Diagoras and leads him to the lift.

-0-

"Prepare the laboratory. The Final Experiment will begin." Dalek Sec ordered.

"We obey." The Dalek replied.

-0-

The lift doors close without anyone touching the controls leaving Diagoras along with the Dalek in the small lift.

"Where are we going?" Diagoras asked.

"You have been summoned by our leader." The Dalek replied.

"Oh, and about time too." Diagoras said as the lift nears the basement.

-0-

Diagoras leaves the lift and puts on a pair of gloves he has in his pocket. He walks forward slowly as a crowd of pigmen gather around them peeking out from behind pillars and lab equipment.

"I bring you the human." One of the Dalek's ordered.

"I take it you're in charge?" Diagoras asked as they approached Dalek Sec.

"Correct. I am Dalek Sec, leader of the Cult of Skaro." He replied.

"Then, my Lord Sec, I am honored to meet you. Ever since you first made contact with me, transmitting your thoughts into the corners of my mind, tempting me with such images, such ideas." Diagoras said thankfully. "Oh, sir, I'd always dreamt that the…"

"Cease talking." Sec ordered.

"I just want to let you know how grateful I am…" Diagoras started again only to be cut off once again.

"I said cease. Slaves, secure the human." Sec ordered and the slaves obeyed grabbing hold of Diagoras.

"But you don't need to do that. I'm on your side. I'm working with you. I'm your partner. I'm your friend." Diagoras struggled against the pigmen's grasp to no avail.

-0-

"We're way beyond half a mile. There's no collapse, nothing." Solomon said as they stopped beneath a manhole allowing some light in.

"That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?" Martha asked.

"Looks like it." The Doctor answered.

"So why'd he want people to come down here?" Frank asked looking around.

"Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back. I'll be much quicker on my own." The Doctor said making to walk away, but Stella grabbed him.

"Oh yeah? And what if you can't run, you'll need some muscle." Stella said sternly ignoring the disbelieving looks she got from Frank and Solomon at the mention of her strength. "I'm coming with you."

"Stella…" The Doctor started, but a big squeals echo around them cutting him off.

"What the hell was that?" Solomon asked.

"Hello?" Frank called out causing everyone to shush him. "What if it's one of the folk gone missing? You'd be scared and half mad down here on your own."

"Do you think they're still alive?" The Doctor asked.

"Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost." Frank reasoned as more squeals sounded.

"I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that." Solomon pointed out.

"Where's it coming from? Sounds like there's more than one of them." Frank said as they all stood in a circle back to back keeping eyes on all of the tunnels.

"This way." The Doctor said looking down one tunnel.

"No, that way." Solomon's torch lights up a figure crouched in a corner.

"Doctor?" Martha called out quietly.

"Who are you?" Solomon called to it.

"Are you lost? Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folk lost down…" Frank started, but the Doctor cut him off.

"It's all right, Frank. Just stay back. Let me have a look." The Doctor said starting down the tunnel toward the crouched figure. "He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us…" Then he sees that the man is a pig and kneels down in front of him. "Oh, but what are you?"

"Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?" Solomon asked.

"No, it's real. I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?" The Doctor asked not noticing the shadows that moved toward him placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Doctor? I think you'd better get back here." Stella said as she quickly made her way to his side while more pigmen entered the tunnel.

"Doctor! Stella!" Martha called out.

"Actually, good point." The Doctor said as Stella pulled him up and backed away with him.

"They're following you." Martha pointed out.

"Yeah, I noticed that, thanks. Well then, Martha, Frank, Solomon, Stella…" The Doctor started as he and Stella backed up faster.

"What?" Martha asked.

"Eh? Er, basically, run!" The Doctor ordered as he and Stella spun on their heels and ran urging the group ahead of them as they ran. The pigmen chase them through the various tunnels back to a junction.

"Where are we going?!" Martha asked coming to a stop not knowing which way to go.

"This way!" The Doctor called out as he ran ahead of the group leading them through the tunnels. He spots something down a side passage. "It's a ladder! Come on!"

The Doctor climbs up the ladder and uses the sonic screwdriver to open the cover at the top. Frank grabs an iron T bar to ward off the pigmen as Martha climbs up followed by Stella.

"Frank! Frank!" Solomon climbs to safety, then Frank runs to the ladder. "C'mon, Frank! C'mon!"

The pigmen grab Frank's legs pulling him back into the tunnel. Solomon and the Doctor try to grab his hands and pull him back up.

"I've got you. C'mon! Come on!" The Doctor grunted as they fought against the strength of the pigmen, but Frank is pulled down by the pigmen.

"Frank!" Solomon yelled.

"No!" The Doctor yelled as the pigmen start up the ladder after them. Solomon pushes the Doctor away as the pigmen start to climb the ladder, and slams the lid shut.

"We can't go after him." Solomon said locking the lid in place.

"We've got to go back down. We can't just leave him." The Doctor shouted as he tried to get the lid open again, but Solomon pushed him back.

"No, I'm not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all!" Solomon said sternly. "There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry."

"All right, then. Put them up. Hands in the air and no funny business." Tallulah steps out from behind a rack and points a revolver at them. "Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?"

"Who's Laszlo?" Martha asked in confusion.

-0-

"Laszlo's my boyfriend." Tallulah explained as she sat at her dressing table, gun still in hand waving it around carelessly causing them to flinch every time she points it at them to emphasize a point. "Or was my boyfriend until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I'm not stupid." Tallulah held the gun to her head. "I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?"

"Yeah. It might, might just help if you put that down." The Doctor said motioning for her to do so.

"Huh? Oh, sure." Tallulah threw the gun onto a nearby chair causing another hard flinch. "Oh, come on. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear."

"What do you think happened to Lazlo?" Stella asked leaning against the doorway on the other side of the Doctor.

"I wish I knew. One minute he's there, the next, zip. Vanished." Tallulah said with a shrug.

"Listen, ah—what's your name?" The Doctor asked.

"Tallulah." Tallulah answered.

"Tallulah." The Doctor repeated.

"Three Ls and an H." Tallulah said.

"Right. We can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one." The Doctor said. "There are people disappearing every night."

"And there are creatures." Solomon said shaking his head. "Such creatures."

"What do you mean, creatures?" Tallulah asked.

"Look, listen, just trust me. Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is." The Doctor held up the jellyfish thing. "Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting."

"Yuck." Tallulah said making a face.

-0-

"Just leave it to me. I might not know a thing about Organic whatever's, but I can make a device that will tell us all about it." Stella said as she rushed around the prop room gathering bits of everything and piling them onto a table while the Doctor watched with an entertained smile as he helped gather supply.

"How about this? I found it backstage." Solomon said as he held out a radio.

"Perfect. It's the capacitors I need." Stella said in excitement grabbing the radio and taking it apart. "Doctor can you sonic this, check if they're any good?"

"Yeah." The Doctor said and checked them over with the sonic. "They're good."

"One of these days you're going to have to let me look that over, it is quit the piece of technology." Stella said as she took out the capacitors and got back to work.

"What is she doing?" Solomon asked the Doctor.

"She's just rigging up a crude little DNA scan for this beastie." The Doctor explained.

"If I can get this machine to give a chromosomal reading, then the Doctor can find out where it's from." Stella said with a wide smile. "This is so much fun!"

"How about you, Doctor? Where are you from, either of you?" Solomon asked looking between him and Stella. "I've been all over. I never heard anybody talk like you or her. Just exactly who are you two?"

"Oh, I'm just sort of passing by." The Doctor answered.

"And I'm just a hitchhiker who bummed a ride with him." Stella said not looking up from her device.

"I'm not a fool." Solomon said sternly.

"No. Sorry." The Doctor said.

"Didn't mean to imply that you were." Stella added standing up straight.

"I was so scared." Solomon said as he walked back over to the cover with Stella and the Doctor following his face a mask of deep guilt. "I let them take Frank because I was just so scared."

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." Stella quoted Nelson Mandela placing a hand on Solomon's shoulder. "I read that in one of my favorite books. It was about a very brave man who protected and led his people to better days."

"You're right; I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves. Ain't no one else going to help us." Solomon said with a nod and started to leave.

"Good luck." The Doctor said.

"I hope you find what you're looking for, for all our sakes." Solomon replied and left.

-0-

"Laszlo. He'd wait for me after the show. Walk me home like I was a lady." Tallulah said as she got ready for the show. "He'd leave a flower for me on my dressing table. Every day, just a single rose bud."

"Haven't you reported him missing?" Martha asked as she looked over the things in the room, testing out a lipstick color on her hand.

"Sure. He's just a stagehand. Who cares?" Tallulah said bitterly. "The management certainly don't."

"Can't you kick up a fuss or something?" Martha asked as she looked into the mirror checking her hair.

"Okay, so then they fire me." Tallulah said.

"But they'd listen to you. You're one of the stars." Martha emphasized the word star.

"Oh, honey, I got one song in a back street revue and that's only because Heidi Chicane broke her ankle. Which had nothing to do with me whatever anybody says." Tallulah said quickly. "I can't afford to make a fuss. If I don't make this month's rent, then before you know it, I'm in Hooverville."

"Okay, I get it." Martha said as Tallulah stood up.

"It's the Depression, sweetie. Your heart might break, but the show goes on. Because if it stops, you starve. Every night I have to go out there, sing, dance, keep going, hoping he's going to come back." Tallulah said tearing up with a sob.

"I'm sorry." Martha said as she pulled her into a hug.

"That friend of yours, Stella, sure is lucky though, she's got herself a forward thinking guy with that hot potato in the sharp suit." Tallulah said when they pulled back.

"Oh, no, they're not together." Martha said quickly.

"Oh, sure they are. I've seen the way they look at each other. It's obvious." Tallulah said then noticed Martha's displeased look. "Oh, I'm sorry, is he with you? I didn't mean to…"

"No, I'm not with him either." Martha shook her head sadly.

"Oh, I should have realized. He's into musical theatre, huh?" Tallulah said with a sympathetic smile. "What a waste. Still, you got to live in hope. It's the only thing that's kept me going because, well, look." Tallulah picked up a white rose bud holding it out to Martha. "On my dressing table every day still."

"You think it's Laszlo?" Martha asked looking at the rose.

"I don't know. If he's still around, why is he being all secret like he doesn't want me to see him?" Tallulah questioned.

-0-

"The stories are all true. People are being taken. We lost Frank today. He was stolen from right in front of me." Solomon spoke to the crowd that gathered in the pouring rain. "No more. I swear to you, no more. Now, I made a pledge that this place would be a peaceful place, but now it's time to take up arms."

"Yeah!" The Crowd cheered.

"We need weapons. We need sentries on duty. We need men prepared to fight. We've got to protect ourselves because you know no one else will." Solomon spoke as the crowd started to leave to do as he said.

"That's right." The crowd roared once again.

"Now get moving. Arm yourselves. Come on!" Solomon urged as they went to work.

-0-

In the dark, up on the top of the mast of the Empire State Building, in the cold wind and rain two men worked to get the job done as they were told to.

"I can't feel my fingers! We can't stay here for much longer! We'll fall!" The Foreman yelled as they rivet the three Dalek panels onto the tall metal rod.

"Come on, we're nearly done!" The man helping him called out continuing to work.

-0-

"The chromatin solution is ready." A Dalek said.

"Then our preparations are complete." Dalek Sec said.

"What are you doing? Preparations for what?" Diagoras demanded still struggling against the pig people.

"This is the Final Experiment." Sec said.

"What do you mean? Do you mean like this pig men things? You're not going to turn me into one of those. Oh God, please don't!" Diagoras begged.

"The pig slaves are primitive. The Final Experiment is greater by far." Sec said.

"But how does that involve me?" Diagoras asked.

"We need your flesh. Bring him to me!" Sec ordered.

"Halt! This action contradicts the Dalek Imperative." Thay said.

"Daleks are supreme. Humans are weak." Another Dalek said.

"But there are millions of humans and only four of us. If we are supreme, why are we not victorious? The Cult of Skaro was created by the Emperor for this very purpose. To imagine new ways of survival." Sec replied.

"But we must remain pure." Thay argued.

"No, Dalek Thay. Our purity has brought us to extinction. We must adapt to survive. You have all made sacrifices." Sec said indicating the panels Dalek Thay is missing. "And now I will sacrifice myself for the greater cause, the future of Dalek kind. Now bring me the human."

"I don't understand. What do you mean? Get off of me!" Diagoras said trying to get away.

"Behold the true Dalek form." Dalek Sec opens its casing opens to reveal its organic component, which looked like an octopus. "Now you join with me."

"No! Get off me! I did everything you asked of me! No!" Sec lassoes Diagoras with his unexpectedly long tentacles and then envelopes him in his stomach - very octopus. When it is dragged back inside, the Dalek casing closes.

-0-

The Doctor aims a spotlight onto the jellyfish, which is pinned inside Stella's gizmo, which in turn is powered by the Doctors sonic screwdriver.

"That's it. We need to heat you up." The Doctor puts on his glasses and starts to examine it while Stella manipulates the device to his directions.

-0-

"Girls, it's showtime!" Tallulah called out.

"Lois, you spoil my chasse tonight, I'm going to punch you." One of the showgirls threatened.

"Aw, quit complaining, Myrna. Go buy yourself some glasses." Another brushed her off.

"Come on, honey. Take a look. Ever been on stage before?" Tallulah asked Martha.

"Oh, a little bit. You know, Shakespeare." Martha said with a shrug.

"How dull is that? Come and see a real show." Tallulah pulled her along.

-0-

"This is artificial." The Doctor said looking over the readings.

"Ladies and gentlemen. The Laurenzi …" A voice announced.

"Genetically engineered." Stella said also looking it over.

"Whoever this is, oh, you're clever." The Doctor said.

"…Dancing devils, with Heaven and Hell!" The announcement ended. The curtains open to show the chorus line in their red devil dresses, who pull back their red feather fans to reveal Tallulah, the angel in white.

"You lured me in with your cold grey eyes, your simple smile, your bewitching lies. One and one and one is three. My bad, bad angel, the Devil and me. You put the devil in me. You put the devil in me. You put the devil in me. My bad, bad angel, you put the Devil in me." Tallulah sang while from the wings, Martha spots a pigman in the opposite wings. She tries to sneak across the back of the stage, unnoticed.

"What are you doing?" One of the chorus girls yelped. Martha accidentally grabs a devil's tail and they both fall causing a minor domino effect.

"What are you doing?" Tallulah said in surprise.

"You're on my tail. Get off my tail!" Another chorus girl yelped.

-0-

The Doctor is listening to the jellyfish with a stethoscope as Stella continues to manipulate her machine.

"Fundamental DNA type four six seven dash nine eight nine. Nine eight nine." The Doctor said taking of the stethoscope. "Hold on, that means planet of origin…. Skaro."

The Doctor looks up at a pale Stella face drained of blood wide eyed before he dashes off Stella hot on his heels.

-0-

"Get off the stage. You're spoiling it!" Tallulah ordered Martha as the crowd laughed.

"But look. Over there!" Martha points at the pigman. Tallulah screams and it runs. "Hey!" Martha chases the pigman backstage. "Wait!" The pigman runs into the prop room followed by Martha. "But you're different to the others! Just wait!"

The pigman quickly disappeared into the sewers before Martha can get to him.

-0-

"It was like something out of a movie show." One of the showgirls said.

"Oh, that face. I ain't never going to sleep." Another said fretfully as the Doctor and Stella ran up to them.

"Martha?!" Stella called out not seeing the girl anywhere.

"Where is she? Where's Martha?" The Doctor demanded not seeing her either.

"I don't know. She ran off the stage." Tallulah answered. A different pigman grabs Martha from behind and she screams. The Doctor Stella and Tallulah hear the scream and run towards the sound.

"Martha!" The Doctor yelled.

"Doctor, the sewer entrance lid hasn't been put back properly, they took her down there, they got her." Stella said picking up the lid and tossing it away like it weighed nothing as the Doctor put his coat on.

"Wow, you're strong." Tallulah commented as Stella pulled on her jacket as well. "Where are you going?"

"They've taken her." The Doctor answered.

"Who's taken her? What're you doing?" Tallulah asked as the Doctor goes down into the sewers followed by Stella. "I said, what the hell are you doing?" No answer. "Crazy guys."

Tallulah puts on a fur coat and goes down the ladder.

"Doctor we're being followed." Stella said when she caught sight of Tallulah on the ladder.

"No, no, no, no, no way. You're not coming." The Doctor said as Tallulah came down the rest of the way.

"Tell me what's going on." Tallulah demanded.

"There's nothing you can do. Go back." The Doctor ordered.

"Look, whoever's taken Martha, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?" Tallulah demanded.

"He's right Tallulah, you're not safe down here." Stella said in concern.

"Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?" Tallulah ordered then picked a random tunnel when neither of them answered right away and went down it.

"This way." The Doctor said going down a different tunnel with Stella. Tallulah comes back and follows them.

-0-

"No! Let me go!" Martha screamed as she was pushed against a wall. A line of men were escorted past her.

"Martha." Frank called out spotting her.

"You're alive! Oh! I thought we'd lost you." Martha said in relief as she ran over to Frank both of them hugging tightly until a pigman pushes Frank.

"All right, all right, we're moving." Martha snapped as they were herded along the tunnel.

"Where are they taking us?" Frank asked.

"I don't know, but we can find out what's going on down here." Martha answered as they followed the pigmen down the tunnel.

-0-

"When you say, they've taken her, who's they exactly? And who are you anyway? I never asked." Tallulah talked on as they walked through the damp tunnels.

"Shush." The Doctor said.

"Okay, okay…" Tallulah said holding up her hands.

"Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush." The Doctor cut her off as the shadow of a Dalek is cast on the wall ahead of them.

"I mean you're handsome and all…" Tallulah went on until the Doctor slapped his hand over her mouth and grabbed Stella dragging them back into a service alcove. Stella felt her blood drain upon seeing the creature. Boe had told her all sorts of horrible stories about the Daleks, the true stuff of nightmares. She clung to the Doctor and started to shiver with fear as the Doctor wrapped his arm around her holding her close until the Dalek is safely past and away.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no." The Doctor ground out as they stepped out of the alcove clinging to Stella's hand. "They survived. They always survive while I lose everything."

"I thought they were all dead, I've only ever heard stories, horrible stories from Boe." Stella said shaking still. "He showed me such horrific images, they gave me nightmares for months."

"That metal thing? What was it?" Tallulah asked.

"It's called a Dalek. And it's not just metal, it's alive." The Doctor said bitterly.

"You're kidding me." Tallulah said with a disbelieving smile that wilted under the combined looks of the Doctor and Stella.

"Does it look like I'm kidding?" The Doctor bit out. "Inside that shell is a creature born to hate, whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive."

"But if it's not a human being, that kind of implies it's from outer space." Tallulah said as they went on only getting stares in reply. "Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Boy. Well, what's it doing here, in New York?"

-0-

"Stop the process. Dalek Sec is failing." A Dalek ordered as smoke poured out of Sec.

"No, the experiment must continue. Administer the solution. We must evolve. Evolve. Evolve!" Sec is given an injection.

-0-

"Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now." The Doctor said.

"Doctor." Stella said spotting a pigman that rounded the corner. Tallulah screams when she spots it and it tries to hide behind Stella and The Doctor. "He might know where Martha is."

"Where's Martha? What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?" The Doctor ordered as he stalked up to the Pigman Stella staying with Tallulah.

"I didn't take her." The pigman replied facing away from the girls.

"You can talk." Stella said joining the Doctor leaving Tallulah behind. She looked over the pigman when she was close enough. He still had dark hair and mostly human looking features, but he turned away from her inspection. "You're different from the others."

"Can you remember your name?" The Doctor asked.

"Don't look at me." He snapped.

"Do you know where she is?" Tallulah asked cautiously walking toward them.

"Stay back! Don't look at me." The Pigman ordered her, stopping her in her tracks.

"What happened to you?" Stella asked gently.

"They made me a monster." He answered bitterly.

"Who did?" The Doctor asked.

"The masters." He replied.

"The Daleks. Why?" The Doctor asked.

"They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late." The pigman said.

"Do you know what happened to Martha?" Stella asked.

"They took her. It's my fault. She was following me." The pigman said in guilt.

"Were you in the theatre?" Tallulah asked.

"I never. ..yes." He answered reluctantly.

"Why? Why were you there?" Tallulah demanded stepping closer.

"I never wanted you to see me like this." He said and started to walk away, but Tallulah stopped him.

"Why me? What I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?" Tallulah continued to question as she gripped his arm. Laszlo slowly turns around so that Tallulah can finally see him.

"Yes." Lazlo answered.

"Who are you?" Tallulah asked although she already knew the answer.

"I was lonely." Lazlo answered.

"Who are you?" Tallulah repeated.

"I needed to see you." Lazlo said.

"Who are you?" Tallulah said more sternly.

"I'm sorry." Lazlo tried to leave, but Tallulah stopped him.

"No, wait. Let me look at you." Tallulah said gently pulling him into the light. "Laszlo? My Laszlo? Oh, what have they done to you?"

"I'm sorry. So sorry." Lazlo said as Tallulah fought back her tears as she fixed her collar not really sure what to do.

"Laszlo, can you show me where they are?" The Doctor asked.

"They'll kill you." Lazlo said.

"If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone." The Doctor replied.

"Then follow me." Lazlo said leading them down the tunnel.

-0-

"What are they keeping us here for?" Frank asked.

"I don't know. I've got a nasty feeling we're being kept in the larder." Martha commented as Laszlo brings the Doctor Hero and Tallulah to where they can see Martha and Frank.

"Now what?" Stella breathed out. The pigmen get nervous and jostle each other.

"What're they doing? What's wrong? What's wrong?" Frank panicked as the pigmen started to push them against the wall.

"Silence. Silence." A Dalek ordered coming into view.

"What the hell is that?" Martha asked fearfully.

"You will form a line. Move. Move." The Dalek ordered as the pigmen forced them to do so.

"Just do what it says, everyone, okay? Just obey." Martha said when some of the men started to fight back.

"The female is wise. Obey." The Dalek said.

"Report." Another Dalek said.

"These are strong specimens. They will help the Dalek cause." The other Dalek said.

"Dalek?" Martha questioned.

"What is the status of the Final Experiment?" The Dalek asked the other.

"The Dalekanium is in place. The energy conductor is now complete." The Dalek answered.

"Then I will extract prisoners for selection." The other Dalek said and a pigman drags an older black man forward. "Intelligence scan, initiate." The Dalek puts its sucker onto the man's face. "Reading brain waves. Low intelligence."

"You calling me stupid?" The man snapped.

"Silence! This one will become a pig slave. Next." The Dalek said as the man was pulled away.

"No, let go of me. I'm not becoming one of them. No! No." The man yelled as he was dragged away.

"Intelligence scan. Initiate." The Dalek said moving down the line.

"They're divided into two groups. High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me." Lazlo said.

"Well, that's not fair." Tallulah scoffed.

"Shush." The Doctor said.

"You're the smartest guy I ever dated." Tallulah said quietly making Lazlo smile.

"That is so sweet." Stella said making Tallulah and Lazlo blush.

"And the others?" The Doctor asked getting them back on subject.

"They're taken to the laboratory." He answered.

"Why? What for?" Stella asked, going stiff at the mention of a lab where humans were being taken.

"I don't know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment." Lazlo replied and Stella went pale as the Dalek scanned Frank.

The Doctor glanced over at her from the others noting her shaking frame and glassy eyes. He reached out taking her hand brining her out of her dark thoughts. She glanced over at him giving him a reassuring nod that she was fine.

"Superior intelligence." The Dalek said then went to Martha gaining the time travelers attention.

"Intelligence scan, initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment." The Dalek said as Martha was grabbed along with Frank.

"You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's inhuman!" Martha shouted at the Dalek.

"We are not human." The Dalek replied. "Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory."

"Look out, they're moving!" The Doctor said. Laszlo leads Tallulah away, but the Doctor and Stella stayed where they were.

"Doctor, Stella, quickly!" Laszlo called to them when they didn't follow.

"I'm not coming. I've got an idea. You go." The Doctor said before looking back to Stella. "I'd tell you to go as well…"

"But you know I'll just stay anyway." Stella said smiling up at him, making his hearts skip, a thing he was noticing seemed too happened around her frequently lately. He met her gaze and could see the fear behind them, but also a bravery to overcome that fear to save Martha, Frank, and all of the others. "Face Doctor, you're stuck with me for the long haul."

"Laszlo, come on." Tallulah said pulling him along.

"Can you remember the way?" Laszlo asked her.

"Yeah, I think so." Tallulah said.

"Then go, please." Laszlo said.

"But Laszlo, you got to come with me." Tallulah said still holding onto him.

"Where would I go?" Laszlo asked and Tallulah has no answer for him although she tried desperately to come up with one. "Tallulah, I'm begging you. Save yourself. Just run. Just go. Go.

Tallulah reluctantly left tears streaming down her face as she goes, but soon got lost in the maze that was the New York City underground system. Laszlo Stella and the Doctor let the Daleks glide past then joined with the humans following along toward the lab. Stella was taking deep breaths to keep calm, not that it was going so well. Her heart was pounding harder than a jack hammer.

"Just keep walking." The Doctor said quietly.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you two." Martha breathed out.

"Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want." The Doctor said as they went.

"Oh and just because I didn't get stolen by pigmen I don't get a kiss, well that's just not fair." Stella pouted sarcastically, easing her nerves with a bit of joking.

"Fine, I'll give you a kiss to." The Doctor said with a bit of a smug smirk.

"I was talking to Frank." Stella replied with a smirk of her own making the young man's ears turn bright red while the Doctor pouted slightly and Martha snickered.

-0-

"Report." A Dalek ordered as they came into the main lab room.

"Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution." Thay reported as they gathered around the smoking shaking Dalek Sec.

"Scan him. Prepare for birth." A Dalek said.

"Evolution?" The Doctor questioned.

"What's wrong with old Charlie boy over there?" Martha asked gesturing to Sec.

"Ask them." The Doctor said.

"What, me? Don't be daft." Martha said shaking her head.

"Well he can't get noticed right now can he, I'll ask them." Stella said stepping forward taking a deep breath as her hands started to shake. She squared her shoulders and fixed them with her coldest glare pushing all of her fear to the back of her mind. "Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!"

"You will bear witness." The Dalek replied.

"To what?" Stella demanded.

"This is the dawn of a new age." The Dalek went on.

"Tell me what that means? Explain!" Stella ordered.

"We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again." The Dalek said as Sec's shell stops smoking and the light goes out in its eye stalk. The casing opens and a biped struggles out and stands straight as the casing shuts behind him.

"What is it?" Martha breathed out as Stella backed away making sure to stand in front of Martha and Frank. It had the one-eyed head and hands of a Dalek blob.

"That's Diagoras's suit." Stella said in shock. "It mutated with Diagoras, it's a hybrid."

"I am a human Dalek." Sec said in a halting voice. "I am your future."


	9. Chapter 9

"These humans will become like me. Prepare them for hybridization." Sec ordered as the pigmen start to take the others and the Doctor sneaks away.

"Leave me alone! Don't you dare!" Martha screamed as one of the pigmen grab her. Stella felt her heart pumping hard and blood rushing in her ears as she went panic mode. Her flight or fight mode kicked in choosing fight as she stepped forward with balled fists.

"I don't think so." Stella snapped grabbing the pigman and shoving him into a pillar knocking him unconscious.

"Restrain her!" A Dalek ordered while she took out two more pigmen with a spinning high kick keeping them away from the rest of the humans, her fear driving her.

She took a defensive stance making herself ready for the rest of the pigmen refusing for anyone to get captured, she didn't want anyone else to go through what she had gone through. The pigmen advanced as Stella tensed ready for the fight, but then Happy Days are Here Again started playing making her pause with a raised eyebrow.

"What is that sound?" Sec demanded looking around for the source as were the others.

"Ah, well, now, that would be me." The Doctor said coming out from behind a pillar. He put the radio down by a Bunsen burner and walks up to Sec. "Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera."

"Doctor." Sec said.

"The enemy of the Daleks." A Dalek said.

"Exterminate." Another Dalek yelled.

"Wait!" Sec ordered.

"Well, then. A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever." The Doctor said getting right up into Sec's face.

"The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter." Sec hissed angrily at the Doctor.

"How did you end up in 1930?" The Doctor asked.

"Emergency temporal shift." Sec answered.

"Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, huh? Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world, but instead you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting." The Doctor said looking around at all of them. "All of which results in you."

"I am Dalek in human form." Sec said proudly.

"What does it feel like? You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now." The Doctor pressed.

"I feel humanity." Sec turns away.

"Good. That's good." The Doctor said.

"I feel everything we wanted from mankind, which is ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such a genius for war." Sec said getting excited.

"No, that's not what humanity means." The Doctor said.

"I think it does. At heart, this species is so very Dalek." Sec said turning back to the Doctor.

"All right, so what have you achieved then, with this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! Because I can show you what you're missing with this thing. A simple little radio." The Doctor said placing a hand on the small radio.

"What is the purpose of that device?" A Dalek asked.

"Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that? Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it." The Doctor said looking back to Stella, who nodded getting the unsaid message while Martha felt her stomach lurch. Stella started to slowly herd them all back toward the exit while the Dalek and pigs were distracted. "Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's all just noise." The Doctor aims his sonic screwdriver at the little radio. It emits a shriek that hurts Sec and the Daleks, and the pigmen. "Run!"

"Way ahead of you Doctor." Stella called out as she grabbed his hand pulling him after the others which were already running down the tunnels through the sewers.

"Protect the hybrid!" A Dalek ordered.

"Protect. Protect. Protect." The others repeated.

"Report status." A Dalek ordered.

"Pain. Pain of the flesh, like no other Dalek has felt for thousands of years." Sec said in wonder.

"The Doctor has escaped." A Dalek reported.

"Then find him. Find him." Sec ordered.

"Find the Doctor. The prisoners must be recaptured." A Dalek ordered the pigmen who ran after them along with two Daleks.

-0-

"Come on! Move, move, move, move, move!" The Doctor urged leading the group to where Tallulah was standing, still lost. "And you, Tallulah! Run!"

"What's happened to Laszlo?" Tallulah demanded as Martha drags Tallulah along following the Doctor to the ladder.

"Come on! Everyone up! Come on!" The Doctor ordered and everyone raced up.

"They have ascended. Return to base." One of the Daleks that had followed the ordered and the pigmen go leaving the two Daleks alone.

"Request information. What is your opinion of Dalek Sec?" One of the Daleks asked.

"We were created to follow him." The Dalek answered.

"But you have doubts." The other Dalek said. The Daleks check that they cannot be overheard.

"Affirmative." It answered.

-0-

"These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares. And they want to breed?" Solomon questioned them as soon as they returned to Hooverville.

"They're splicing themselves onto human bodies, and if I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville." The Doctor said. "You've got to get everyone out."

"Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go." Solomon replied.

"I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter. Go anywhere." The Doctor said. "Down to the railroads, travel across state. Just get out of New York."

"There's got to be a way to reason with these things." Solomon said.

"There's not a chance." Stella said shaking her head.

"You ain't seen them, boss." Frank added.

"Daleks are bad enough at any time, but right now they're vulnerable. That makes them more dangerous than ever." The Doctor said.

"You need to get out before it's too late." Stella said trying to put as much power into convincing him as possible.

"They're coming! They're coming!" A sentry yelled.

"And now it is too late." Stella said running her hand through her hair.

"A sentry. He must have seen something." Solomon said as the sentry ran up to them.

"They're here! I've seen them! Monsters! They're monsters!" The Sentry said.

"It's started." The Doctor stated.

"We're under attack! Everyone to arms!" Solomon ordered as the rifles are handed out.

"I'm ready, boss, but all of you, find a weapon! Use anything." Frank said and Martha picked up a stick. Frank turned to Stella looking concerned at her lack of weaponry. "What about you?"

"Trust me, I don't need a weapon." Stella said cracking her neck as some people ran away.

"Come back! We've got to stick together! It's not safe out there! Come back!" Solomon called after them.

The pigmen get into the camp and start grabbing victims causing screams to break out everywhere. Stella made to go toward the screams, but the Doctor grabbed her hand holding her back. She looked back at him and he shook his head, keeping his grip on her hand unconsciously rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

"We need to get out of the park." Martha said clinging to her stick as Tallulah huddled behind her with one of her own.

"We can't. They're on all sides." The Doctor said shaking his head.

"They're driving everyone back towards us." Stella said still gripping the Doctor hand tighter.

"We're trapped." Tallulah said.

"Then we stand together. Gather round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together." Solomon ordered as the armed men form a circle around the women, by the campfire then the shooting starts. "They can't take all of us."

"If we can just hold them off till daylight." Martha said her eyes darting around them.

"Oh, Martha, they're just the foot soldiers." The Doctor said sadly.

"And here comes the Calvary." Stella breathed out.

"Oh, my God." Martha said in fears as a Dalek comes flying towards them.

"What in this world is it?" Solomon asked.

"It's the devil. A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation." The Sentry shouted.

"Oh yeah? We'll see about that!" Frank fires his shotgun at the Dalek. The shot bounces off with a clang.

"That's not going to work." The Doctor said pushing Franks gun down.

-0-

"Establish visual contact." Sec ordered. The view from Dalek s eyestalk comes up on a holo-screen. "Commence the attack."

-0-

"There's more than one of them." Martha said as a second Dalek swoops in and they start firing, blowing up the tents and anyone hiding there.

"The humans will surrender." The Dalek ordered.

"Leave them alone. They've done nothing to you!" The Doctor yelled coming out of the crowd.

"We have located the Doctor." The Dalek said as they close in on him.

"I hope there is a part two to this grand plan of yours." Stella said as thing momentarily quieted down.

"Who said I had a plan?" The Doctor replied as Solomon steps forward and tried to pull him back. "No, Solomon. Stay back."

"I'm told that I'm addressing the Daleks. Is that right?" Solomon called up to them. "From what I hear, you're outcasts too."

"Solomon, don't!" The Doctor cautioned.

"Doctor, this is my township." Solomon said looking back at him. "You will respect my authority. Just let me try." Solomon said then turned back to the Daleks. "Daleks, ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin? "Solomon puts down his rifle. "Right. See, I've just discovered this past day, God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely it's got to give me hope. Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you now, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well? What do you say?"

"Exterminate." Solomon dies screaming in a burst of green energy. Sec gasps at the sight of Solomon's pain, and the Dalek in the lab looks at him.

"No! Solomon!" Frank yelled running over to the body.

"They killed him. They just shot him on the spot." Martha said in shock. Stella pulled her into a tight hug and Martha clung to her.

"Daleks. All right, so it's my turn!" The Doctor said walking forward. "Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people!"

"I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy." One of the Daleks said.

"Then do it! Do it! Just do it! Do it!" The Doctor yelled pounding on his chest.

"Exterminate." The Dalek shouted. Martha closed her eyes tight as Stella tightened her hold on her.

"Stop! I command you. Stop." Sec ordered.

"I do not understand. It is the Doctor." The Dalek replied.

"But I want him alive." Sec said.

"The urge to kill is too strong." The Dalek said.

"I have decided. The Doctor must live and you will obey me." Sec ordered.

"I obey." The Dalek said as Stella and Martha stepped apart in confusion.

"Not that I'm not happy that you're alive and all, but what's going on?" Stella asked coming up to the Doctor with Martha.

"I don't know." The Doctor replied.

"Bring him to me." Sec ordered.

"You will follow." The Dalek said to the Doctor.

"No! You can't go." Martha said grabbing his arm.

"She's right, this is a very bad idea." Stella agreed looking distrustfully at the Daleks.

"I've got to go. The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds." The Doctor said to them gently.

"But what about us?" Martha asked.

"One condition! If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?" The Doctor demanded.

"Obey the Doctor." Sec said.

"Humans will be spared. Doctor, follow." The Dalek agreed.

"Then I'm coming with you." Martha said.

"Martha, stay here. Do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Let me go." The Doctor said then looked to Stella. "You need to stay here as well, just in case. The Daleks cannot be trusted, they are not above going back on their word." Stella nodded reluctantly as the Doctor started to walk away before he turned back. "Oh, and can I just say, thank you very much."

He takes Martha's hand in his, and winks at Stella, then leaves with the Daleks.

"His psychic paper." Martha said looking down at it then back at Stella who looked equally confused.

-0-

"You saved the Doctor. Why?" The Dalek asked Sec.

"He's a genius and we can use him. The future of the Daleks might well depend on the Doctor." Sec answered.

-0-

People are throwing water on the remaining burning tents and clearing debris as well as taking count of injured and dead.

"Somebody help me." A man called out trapped under an over turned cart.

"I got you." Stella said lifting the cart up and tossing it away as the man looked up at her in shock.

She helped him up and turned him over to some women were helping to take care of the wounded. Stella then walked back through the camp to where Martha was taking care of more injured people in Solomon's tent. She spotted Martha wrapping a man's wrist in a bandage as Tallulah entered with a pan of hot water. She was about to go in when she spotted Frank alone and crying so she made a detour.

"I'd ask if you were ok, but that would be an extremely stupid question." Stella said sitting down next to him.

"They just killed him, right in front of us, for no reason." Frank said through gritted teeth as Stella put her arm around him.

"I'm so sorry Frank, I know how important he was to you." Stella said softly.

"Have you ever lost someone like that?" Frank asked.

"More times than you can imagine." Stella breathed out sadly thinking of the many battles she had been through and the march of time that had ripped family and friends from her and the Face of Boe who had been there for her in her darkest time, all gone.

"Does it ever stop hurting?" Frank asked.

"No, it never does, but you learn to accept it one day and it makes it easier to bare." Stella answered truthfully. "The pain never changes in weight, but we grow strong enough to bare it."

"What do you do then?" Frank asked looking up at her.

"I live on and do my best to honor their memory as well as keeping them close to my heart." Stella answered with a small smile. "As well as crying and the comfort of a good friend doesn't hurt."

"Thanks." Frank replied looking back over the township.

"Glad I could help." Stella answered allowing them to slip into a comfortable silence.

-0-

"Here you go. I got some more on the boil." Tallulah said setting the pot down.

"Thanks. You'll be all right. It's just a cut. Try and keep it clean." Martha told him as he got up and left.

"Thanks." He said slipping out of the tent.

"So what about us? What do we do now?" Tallulah asked Martha.

"The Doctor gave me this. He must have had a reason." Martha said looking down at the leather wallet.

"What's that for?" Tallulah asked looking down at it as well.

"It gets you into places. Buildings and things. But where? He must want me to go somewhere but, what am I supposed to do?" Martha questioned, trying to think of what the Doctor wanted.

-0-

"Those people were defenseless! You only wanted me, but no, that wasn't enough for you. You had to start killing, because that's the only thing a Dalek's good for." The Doctor snarled as soon as he was brought into the lab charging right up to Sec.

"The deaths were wrong." Sec said making the Doctor freeze.

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked in shock.

"That man, their leader, Solomon. He showed courage." Sec said, explaining his new found conscious further.

"And that's good?" The Doctor asked.

"That's excellent." Sec said.

"Is it me or are you just becoming a little bit more human?" The Doctor questioned.

"You are the last of your kind, and now I am the first of mine." Sec said looking to the Doctor.

"What do you want me for?" The Doctor asked eyeing Sec.

"We tried everything to survive when we found ourselves stranded in this ignorant age. First we tried growing new Dalek embryos, but their flesh was too weak." Sec explained their plight.

"Yeah, I found one of your experiments. Just left to die out there in the dark." The Doctor said in a burst of anger.

"It forced us to conclude what is the greatest resource of this planet. Its people." Sec throws a breaker switch and lights up the whole place. Floating above them are hundreds of covered bodies on stretchers. Sec brings one down for inspection. "We stole them. We stole human beings for our purpose. Look inside." The Doctor uncovers a man's face. "This is the true extent of the Final Experiment."

"Is he dead?" The Doctor asked.

"Near death, with his mind wiped, ready to be filled with new ideas." Sec answered looking down at the man his hand ghosting over the face of the man.

"Dalek ideas." The Doctor said bitterly.

"The Human Dalek race." Sec corrected him.

"All of these people. How many?" The Doctor asked.

"We have caverns beyond this storing more than a thousand." Sec answered.

"Is there any way to restore them? Make them human again?" The Doctor asked.

"Everything they were has been lost." Sec answered again.

"So they're like shells. You've got empty human beings ready to be converted. That's going to take a hell of a lot of power. This planet hasn't even split the atom yet. How're you going to do it?" The Doctor asked looking over the lab.

"Open the conductor plan." Sec led him over to the large screen.

-0-

"Wait a minute. Down in the sewers, the Daleks mentioned this energy conductor." Martha said looking to Tallulah.

"What does that mean?" Tallulah asked.

"I don't know. Maybe like a lightening conductor or…" Martha guessed then it hit her. "Dalekanium!"

"Oh." Tallulah said a little startled.

"They said the Dalekanium was in place." Martha explained herself.

"In place where?" Tallulah asked.

"Frank might know." Martha said as she got up and left the tent followed by Tallulah. They walk around the camp until they see Frank sitting next to Stella who was comforting him during his mourning.

"Frank?" Martha said.

"Hmm?" Frank replied wiping his eyes.

"That Mister Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?" Martha questioned.

"Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere." Frank said with a bitter laugh.

"But where, though? What sort of things?" Martha asked.

"You name it. We're all so desperate for work, you just hoped Diagoras would pick you for something good. Building work, that pays the best." Frank explained.

"But what sort of building work?" Martha asked desperately.

"Mainly building that." Frank points over his shoulder to the Empire State Building.

"Martha, what's going on?" Stella asked her.

"Deleklanium, they said it was in place and now I know where." Martha said with a wide smile as Stella caught on.

"Martha Jones, you are a genius." Stella said as she got up and hugged her. "That's why the Doctor gave you the psychic paper. Come one."

"Right." Martha said in excitement as they ran out of the park followed by Frank and Tallulah.

-0-

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Empire State Building." The Doctor said as he looked over the diagram on screen. "We're right underneath that. I worked that out already, thanks. But what, you've hijacked the whole building?"

"We needed an energy conductor." Sec said as the computer showed the building from bottom to top.

"What for?" The Doctor asked looking over the screen.

"I am the genetic template. My altered DNA was to be administered to each human body. A strong enough blast of gamma radiation can splice the Dalek and human genetic codes, and waken each body from its sleep." Sec explained showing him the genetic codes on the screen coming together.

"Gamma radiation? What are you…?" The Doctor started to ask then the screen showed him the next phase. "Oh, the sun. You're using the sun."

"Soon the greatest solar flare for a thousand years will hit the Earth. Gamma radiation will be drawn to the energy conductor and when it strikes…" Sec began.

"The army wakes." The Doctor finished. "I still don't know what you need me for."

"Your genius. Consider a pure Dalek, intelligent but emotionless." Sec said.

"Removing the emotions makes you stronger. That's what your creator thought, all those years ago." The Doctor said.

"He was wrong." Sec stated.

"He was what?" The Doctor asked in real surprise.

"It makes us lesser than our enemies. We must return to the flesh, and also the heart." Sec said placing a hand over his own heart.

"But you wouldn't be the supreme beings anymore." The Doctor pointed out.

"And that is good." Sec said.

"That is incorrect." A Dalek said.

"Daleks are supreme." Another said.

"No, not anymore." Sec snapped.

"But that is our purpose." The Dalek said.

"Then our purpose is wrong. Where has our quest for supremacy led us?" Sec asked then gestured around them. "To this. Hiding in the sewers on a primitive world, just four of us left. If we do not change now then we deserve extinction."

"So you want to change everything that makes a Dalek a Dalek." The Doctor said already the wheels in his head going into overdrive.

"If you can help me." Sec agreed.

-0-

"I always wanted to go to the Empire State. Never imagined it quite like this, though." Martha said as they rode the service elevator up.

"Yeah, last time I was here it was a long time ago in the future." Stella said bouncing on her heels in excitement getting confused looks from everyone, but Martha.

"Where are we headed anyway?" Frank asked.

"The top, where they're still building." Martha answered.

"How come those guys just let us through? How's that thing work?" Tallulah asked.

"Psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want them to think. According to this, we're three engineers and an architect." Martha said showing them the paper.

"And if I take it and think…" Stella said taking the paper then showing it to them again.

"It says you're the queen of Egypt and have a pony named Bill." Tallulah said looking at it wide eyed.

"Neat huh?" Stella said with a laugh as she handed back to Martha who was laughing at what the paper said.

-0-

"Your knowledge of genetic engineering is even greater than ours. The new race must be ready by the time the solar flare erupts." Sec said.

"But you're the template. I thought they were getting a dose of you." The Doctor said

"I want to change the gene sequence." Sec replied.

"To make them even more human?" The Doctor asked disbelievingly.

"Humans are the great survivors. We need that ability." Sec said facing the Doctor.

"Hold on a minute. There's no way this lot are going to let you do it." The Doctor said gesturing to the other Daleks.

"I am their leader." Sec replied confidently.

"Oh, and that's enough for you, is it?" The Doctor asked looking over to the Daleks.

"Daleks must follow orders." One Dalek said.

"Dalek Sec commands, we obey." Another said.

"If you don't help me, nothing will change." Sec pleaded.

"There's no room on Earth for another race of people." The Doctor shook his head.

"You have your Tardis. Take us across the stars." Sec said as he crossed the lab and turned back to the Doctor. "Find us a new home and allow the new Daleks to start again."

The Doctor looked him over weighing the options, but the sincerity was there.

"When's that solar flare?" The Doctor asked.

"Eleven minutes." Sec answered.

"Right then. Better get to work." The Doctor said tossing his jacket to the side.

-0-

"Look at this place. Top of the world." Tallulah said as they stepped out of the elevator. Stella and Martha go to the drawing board with the blueprints on it followed by Frank while Tallulah looks around.

"Okay, now this looks good." Martha said looking over the blue prints.

"Hey, look at the date. These designs were issued today." Stella said looking at the page on top and the one right under it.

"They must've changed something last minute." Frank said.

"You mean the Daleks changed something?" Martha said looking it over.

"Yeah, could be." Frank said.

"The ones underneath, they're from before. That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet but not on this one." Stella said taking the papers and spreading them out on the ground. "We need to check one against the other."

"The height of this place! This is amazing." Tallulah said.

"Careful, we're a hundred floors up. Don't go wandering off." Martha cautioned as she looked over the charts with Stella and Frank.

"I just want to see." Tallulah goes to the open area and looks out towards the Chrysler Building. "New York City. If aliens had to come to Earth, oh, no wonder they came here."

-0-

"There's no point in chromosomal grafting, it's too erratic. You need to split the genome and force the Dalek human sequence right into the cortex." The Doctor said as he ran around the lab.

"We need more chromatin solution." Sec said.

"The pig slaves have it." The pigmen carry in a large crate Laszlo with them.

"These pig slaves, what happens to them in the grand plan?" The Doctor asked taking notice of Frank.

"Nothing. They're just simple beasts. Their lifespan is limited. None survive beyond a few weeks." Sec said carelessly. "Power up the line feeds."

"Laszlo, I can't undo what they've done to you, but they won't do it to anyone else." The Doctor whispered to Laszlo.

"Do you trust him?" Laszlo asked gesturing to Sec.

"I know that one man can change the course of history. Right idea in the right place at the right time, it's all it takes. I've got to believe it's possible." The Doctor replied also looking over to Sec who was mixing liquids together.

-0-

The blueprints were spread out on the floor as Stella and Martha crouch in front of them. Tallulah came back in walking over to them as a storm was brewing outside behind her.

"I'll go and keep an eye out. Make sure we're safe up here. Don't want nobody butting in." Frank said going off the way they'd come.

"There's a hell of a storm moving in." Tallulah pointed out.

"I wish the Doctor was here. He'd know what we're looking for." Martha commented.

"You and me both." Stella said as she flipped through the pages running a finger along the foundation.

"So tell me, where did you all first hook up?" Tallulah asked.

"It was in a hospital for me, sort of." Martha answered.

"Of course, him being a doctor." Tallulah said making Stella stifle a giggle.

"Actually, I'm a doctor. Well, kind of." Martha said.

"You're a physician? Really?" Tallulah asked in surprise and wonder.

"I was training. Still am, if I ever get back home." Martha said looking up.

"You could be doctors together. Oh, what a partnership. Oh, it's such a shame. If only he wasn't so different. You know what I mean?" Tallulah said.

"What do you mean different?" Stella asked still starring down at the blueprints.

"You know, he's into musical theatre." Tallulah hinted and this got Stella to look up in confusion.

"I don't get it." Stella said. "How does that make him different?"

"I'll explain later." Martha said patting her arm. Stella shrugged and got back to work. "And you have no idea how different he really is."

"Yeah, he's a man, sweetheart. That's different enough." Tallulah said.

"Now that I understand." Stella said making the others laugh.

"He had this companion a while back. This friend. And ever since then he's been on his own. But you know, sometimes I say something or do something and he looks at me, and I just sort of think that he's not seeing me. He's just remembering." Martha said bitterly, Stella feeling a pang at the loss of Rose as well as sympathy for the way Martha was feeling.

"Oh. Listen, sweetheart. You want to get all sad? You want to have a contest with me and Laszlo?" Tallulah asked.

"No. But listen, if the Doctor's with Laszlo now, there's every chance that he could get him out." Martha tried to comfort her.

"And then what? Don't talk crazy. There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it." Tallulah bit out tears in her eyes.

-0-

"The line feeds are ready." The Dalek said.

"Then it's all systems go." The Doctor said in excitement.

"The solar flare is imminent. The radiation will reach Earth in a matter of minutes." Sec reported.

"We'll be ready for it." The Doctor fills a large syringe with blue liquid and puts it into a brass still. "That compound will allow the gene bonds to reconfigure in a brand new pattern. Power up!"

A pigman throws one set of breakers, and Laszlo throws the other.

"Start the line feeds." Sec ordered. The liquid goes up plastic tubes to all the bodies hanging above them.

"There goes the gene solution." The Doctor said.

"The life blood." Sec said.

-0-

Stella ran her finger up the building looking for what was different. She started chewing on her lip, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Then she saw it, at the very top of the building, the only thing different.

"Gotcha." Stella said triumphantly gaining the others attention.

"What, what is it?" Martha asked.

"Look. There, on the mast. Those little lines? They're new. They've added something, see?" Stella pointed out.

"Added what?" Tallulah asked.

"Dalekanium!" The three of them said together.

"Whatever it's up there for cannot be good, I'm going to have to go see if I can get it off." Stella said standing up.

"Are you crazy?!" Martha asked wide eyed.

"I wouldn't say crazy, maybe an eccentric who looks good in jeans, but not crazy." Stella said taking off her jacket.

"It'll be freezing up there." Tallulah pointed out.

"Yeah, well the cold never bothered me anyway." Stella said with a wide smile. "And one day Martha you will get that reference."

"But…" Martha started again.

"No, you need to stay here and wait for the Doctor ok?" Stella said sternly. "I'm not kidding Martha, if you follow me you will fall and you will die. It's too dangerous for a human up there."

"Wait, you're not human?!" Tallulah squeaked out.

"About half and half." Stella winked and walked over to the ladder then climbed up the rain already starting to soak her, but she was determined to do this.

-0-

"What's that?" The Doctor asked as a strange noise filled the room.

"What's happening? Is there a malfunction? Answer me!" Sec ordered the Daleks.

"No, no, no. The gene feed! They're overriding the gene feed!" The Doctor said running over to the controls.

"Impossible. They cannot disobey orders." Sec argued.

"The Doctor will step away from the controls." A dalek said pointing his gun at the Doctor.

"Stop! You will not fire." Sec ordered.

"He is an enemy of the Daleks." Another Dalek said.

"And so are you." The Daleks point their guns at Sec.

"I am your commander. I am Dalek Sec." Sec said.

"You have lost your authority." The Dalek said.

"You are no longer a Dalek." Another said.

"What have you done with the gene feed?" The Doctor demanded.

"The new bodies will be one hundred percent Dalek." A Dalek answered.

"No. You can't do this!" Sec said.

"Pig slaves, restrain Dalek Sec and the Doctor." The pigmen grab them and Laszlo is one of those that grab the Doctor.

"Release me. I created you. I am your master." Sec said as another alarm sounds and the lift is coming down.

"Solar flare approaching." A Dalek said.

"Prepare to intercept." Another said.

"There's the lift." Laszlo said.

"After you." The Doctor replied.

Laszlo and the Doctor run. The Doctor uses the sonic screwdriver to get the lift doors open.

"The Doctor is escaping. Stop him! Stop him!" The doors slam shut in the pigmen's faces.

"We've only got minutes before the gamma radiation reaches the Earth. We need to get to the top of the building." The Doctor said then sees Laszlo leaning heavily against the wall. "Laszlo, what's wrong?"

"Out of breath. It's nothing." Laszlo brushed him off. "We've escaped them, Doctor. That's all that matters."

-0-

"You have betrayed me." Sec accused as he was pushed to his knees.

"You told us to imagine." The Dalek replied.

"And we imagined your irrelevance." Another said.

"I was your leader. I am Dalek Sec. Obey me!" Sec yelled.

-0-

The lift arrives and opens everyone tense until the Doctor and Laszlo step out.

Doctor!" Martha said in relief.

"First floor, perfumery." The Doctor joked.

"I never thought I'd see you again." Tallulah said as she ran over to Laszlo.

"No stopping me." Laszlo replied pulling her into a hug.

"We've worked it out. We know what they've done. There's Dalekanium on the mast. And it's good to see you too, by thy way." Martha said showing him the blue prints.

"Oh, come here." The Doctor sweeps Martha off her feet. Then the lift doors shut. "No, no, no. See, never waste time with a hug. Deadlock seal. I can't stop it."

"Where's it going?" Martha asked.

"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?" The Doctor asked.

"Er, eleven fifteen." Frank answered.

"Six minutes to go. I've got to remove the Dalekanium before the gamma radiation hits." The Doctor said then noticed that someone was missing as he looked around.

"Gammon radiation? What the heck is that?" Tallulah asked as the Doctor felt his hearts speed up uncomfortably when he realized who wasn't there.

"Martha, where's Stella?" The Doctor turned to Martha sharply.

"She already went up there, but wouldn't let anyone go with her." Martha answered and the Doctor ran to the open area looking out, Martha not far behind him with the others.

"Oh, that's high. That's very. Blimey, that's high." The Doctor said looking up and over the storm could barely make out Stella's voice yelling in agitation, shouting angrily in in a few choice languages, some of earth and some not.

"And we've got to go even higher. That's the mast up there, look. There's three pieces of Dalekanium on the base. We've got to get them off." Martha said as they looked up the wooden ladder leading to the base of the mast.

"That's not we, that's just me." The Doctor said.

"I won't just stand here and watch you." Martha said. "If Stella can do it so can I."

"No, you're going to have your hands full anyway. I'm sorry, Martha, but you've got to fight." The Doctor told her gripping her shoulders.

-0-

"Confirm time until solar intercept." The Dalek said gliding past Sec who had been chained to a wall.

"Gamma strike four minutes and counting." The Doctor makes his way up the scaffolding and ironwork to the mast. He uses his sonic screwdriver to unfasten the Dalek panels from the lightning conductor. "Pig slaves will take the lift. Find the Doctor. Kill him and his companion."

-0-

"Stella!" The Doctor called out as he got to the top. Stella looked up from where she was using a crowbar to try and remove a panel.

"Took you long enough to get here!" Stella called back with a smirk, part of the first band removed. "I could use a hand if you don't mind."

"Right." The Doctor said running over and using his sonic.

"I'm surprised Martha isn't here with you." Stella called out as they worked together.

"She's having trouble of her own right now." The Doctor said then explained the situation.

-0-

"The lift's coming up." Martha said as they gathered near the opening holding what weapons they could find.

"I should have brought that gun." Frank lamented.

"Tallulah, stay back. You too, Martha. If they send pig slaves, they're trained to kill." Laszlo warned them.

"The Doctor needs me to fight. I'm not going anywhere!" Martha said brandishing her pipe.

"They're savages. I should know. They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth." Laszlo said, but he can barely lift his lump hammer, and falls.

"Laszlo? What is it?" Tallulah said in concern as she kneeled down next to him.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine. Just leave me." Laszlo said as Tallulah stroked his forehead.

"Oh, honey, you're burning up. What's wrong with you? Tell me." Tallulah begged.

"Great. One man down, we ain't even started yet." Frank said gripping his weapon.

"It's not looking good, Frank." Martha agreed.

"Nope." Frank said.

"We're going to get slaughtered." Martha said then thunder and lightning burst over the city.

"Wait a minute. Lightening." Martha said in realization.

-0-

The Doctor and Stella got the first panel off the mast trying their best to ignore the driving rain and strong winds.

"One down two to go." Stella said moving onto the other panel and getting to work.

"We're running out of time." The Doctor said as he followed her lead.

"Then we better work faster." Stella replied with a grunt as they pulled.

-0-

Frank and Martha get sections of metal scaffolding and use chairs to trail them in from outside.

"Aw, you'll be all right, sweetheart. Don't you worry." Tallulah said comfortingly before rounding on the others. "What the hell are you two clowns doing?"

"Even if the Doctor and Stella top the Dalekanium, this place is still going to get hit. Great big bolt of lightning, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift and they get zapped." Martha explained.

"Oh my God, that could work." Tallulah said wide eyed.

"Then give us a hand." Frank replied.

-0-

"Gamma strike imminent. In forty rels. Thirty nine, thirty eight, thirty seven…" The Dalek counted off.

-0-

The Doctor suddenly slipped falling to the ground hard causing him to drop his sonic screwdriver. He made a few grabs for it, but it fell to the floor below.

"No." He yelled as he scrambled over to the edge.

"What?!" Stella called out as she rushed over to him helping him back up away from the edge.

"I dropped my sonic." The Doctor replied.

"Crap." Stella breathed darting back to the dalekanium and started to pull even harder.

-0-

Martha sat up a line of metal from the lightning conductor to the lift doors.

"Is that going to work?" Tallulah asked.

"It's got to." Martha said.

"I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside." Frank said running back into the room.

"Come here, Frank. Just sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal." Martha said as they huddled against a pillar.

"Yeah." Frank breathed out.

-0-

"Twelve, eleven, ten…" The Dalek went on.

-0-

"It's not going to work." The Doctor gave up trying to pull the Dalek panel off and looked at the top of the mast.

"Then what are we going to do?" Stella asked feeling her jaw drop as he climbed onto the mast and held on. "You are crazy."

"Get down to the others." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, cause I have plenty of time to run down there before the lightning hits." Stella said as she climbed up onto the mast with him.

"This is going to hurt." The Doctor said as she wrapped her arms around the mast and him as well making him hug her as well.

"Yeah, I know." Stella replied as they hugged each other tightly. "But you don't have to do this kind of stuff alone anymore."

"Thank you." The Doctor said with a grateful smile which Stella returned.

-0-

The lift reaches them.

"Zero. Gamma strike!" The Dalek said.

The lightning hit the top of the mast and lit up the Doctor and Stella, who screamed. The electricity flowed down the conductor, along the scaffolding poles and straight into the pigmen in the lift. The rest of it arced down the outside of the building and into the laboratory.

"The army awakes." The Dalek said. The stretchers were all lowered and the people pushed their shrouds aside.

-0-

"You did it, Martha." Tallulah said looking over the pigmen lying dead.

"They used to be like Laszlo. They were people, and I killed them." Martha said guiltily.

"No, the Daleks killed them. Long ago." Laszlo corrected her comfortingly.

"What about the Doctor and Stella?" Martha said. The Doctor was lying by the mast, very still with Stella lying beside him. They were both drenched to the bone and completely unconscious. The smell of something burnt was in the air coming from the both of them.

-0-

The once almost dead people are all lined up in front of the Daleks like a true army.

"You will identify." A Dalek ordered.

"I am a Dalek." The once Foreman answered.

"Excellent." The Dalek replied.

"Begin the invasion of Manhattan. The population will be converted to Daleks." Another Dalek said.

"And from this island we will conquer the world." The other Dalek agreed.

"Assume battle positions. Take arms." The people turn left, start marching on the spot then move out to a rack where they each collect a Dalek weapon.

-0-

"Doctor! Doctor? Look what we found halfway down." Martha presses the sonic screwdriver into his hand as she knelt between him and Stella. "Stella, please, please wake up. You're both getting careless."

"Oh my head." The Doctor breathed out.

"Doctor, Stella, she…" Martha looked from the Doctor to Stella who was still unconscious.

"She'll be fine, just needs to reboot." The Doctor said as Stella's eyes opened up, flickering slightly before she breathed out a pain filled groan.

"That was not fun." Stella murmured with a groan, feeling her systems coming back online after rebooting.

"Hiya." Martha said looking at them both happily.

"Hi." Stella replied sitting up holding her head in her hands.

"You survived, then." The Doctor said with a smile.

"So did you two, just about." Martha said with a smiled that turned to a frown. "Real quick though. I can't help noticing there's Dalekanium still attached."

Both Stella and the Doctor get a shock of adrenalin through them and quickly scrambled to their feet while below them the mutated people march through the sewers.

-0-

"War demands strategy. I am designated controller." One of the Daleks took the leadership position.

"That was to be my position." Sec argued.

"You are unfit." The Dalek replied.

"Connect me to the military computer. I will coordinate all units." The Controller said.

-0-

"The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing. They'll be using the sewers, spreading the soldiers out underneath Manhattan." The Doctor said once they reached the work room from the roof.

"How do we stop them?" Laszlo asked.

"There's only one chance. The Doctor and I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping though us first." Stella said as she pulled on her coat.

"Yeah, but what does that mean?" Martha asked.

"We need to draw fire. Before they can attack New York, I need to face them. Where can I draw them out? Think, think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space. Somewhere safe. Somewhere out of the way." The Doctor said to himself as he paced then whirled around on Tallulah. "Tallulah!"

"That's me." Tallulah said. "Three Ls and an H."

"The theatre! It's right above them, and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?" The Doctor asked.

"Don't see why not." Tallulah said with a shrug.

"Is there another lift?" The Doctor asked.

"We came up in the service elevator." Stella replied.

"That'll do. Allons-y!" The Doctor said with a flourish leading them to the service elevator.

-0-

"Report status." A Dalek ordered.

"Maximum efficiency. I am now ready for full scale war." Dalek controller replied as he was hooked up by a bunch of cables and wire to the computers.

"Control over Dalek humans?" Another Dalek asked.

"Connection confirmed. All soldiers will take heed. All weapons will be primed." The people stop, and lock and load the guns.

-0-

"This should do it. Here we go." The Doctor said as they walked into the theatre followed by Martha, Laszlo, Tallulah, and Stella.

"There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark." Tallulah said as they went down the aisles. "Listen, Doctor, I know you got a thing for show tunes, but there's a time and place, huh?" Laszlo sits down hard his breathing labored. "Laszlo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. It's just so hot." Laszlo answered as Tallulah sat down next to him running her hand over his forehead.

"But it's freezing in here." Tallulah said in concern. "Doctor, what's happening to him?"

"Not now, Tallulah." The Doctor turned back to her his eyes sad. "Sorry."

"What are you doing?" Martha asked as the Doctor stood on one of the chairs.

"If the Daleks are going to war, they'll want to find their number one enemy. I'm just telling them where I am." The Doctor held up his sonic screwdriver in the air, beeping emanating from it.

-0-

"Sonic device detected!"

"The Doctor survived?"

"Find him and exterminate!"

-0-

"I'm telling you to go. Frank can take you back to Hooverville." The Doctor told Martha as he stepped back down onto the floor in front of them.

"And I'm telling you I'm not going." Martha said. "You're not making Stella leave."

"It's more dangerous for you here Martha." Stella said as gently and forcefully as she could. "I've fought before, I've been in more wars than I care to remember, I know how to handle myself in these kinds of situations. You do not; you need to go where it is safe."

"Martha, that's an order." The Doctor said sternly.

"Who are you, then? Some sort of Dalek?" Martha shot back.

"Martha! Enough!" Stella snapped and Martha's face became chastised, just before the doors were broken down and the dalek people march in from both sides.

"Doctor! Oh, my God! Well, I guess that's them then, huh?" Tallulah said holding Laszlo close as they all gathered in the center aisle.

"Humans, with Dalek DNA?" Martha asked staying close to Stella and the Doctor.

"It's all right, it's all right. Just stay calm. Don't antagonize them." The Doctor said holding out his hands.

"But what of the Dalek masters? Where are they?" Laszlo asked.

"That is a brilliant question." Stella said tensely. There is an explosion on stage. The two Daleks appear, with Sec on a chain and crawling on his hands and knees, like a dog. "And there is your answer."

"The Doctor will stand before the Daleks." The Doctor walks forward over the top of the seats leaving the others in the aisle.

"You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age." The Dalek said.

"Planet Earth will become New Skaro." Another added.

"Oh, and what a world. With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt." The Doctor said the pointed to Sec. "That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new Empire, hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?"

"My Daleks, just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you." Sec pleaded with them.

"Incorrect. We will always survive." The Dalek replied.

"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor." Another Dalek said.

"But he can help you." Sec said.

"The Doctor must die." The Dalek replied.

"No, I beg you, don't." Sec pleaded once again.

"Exterminate!" Sec stands in front of the Dalek just as it fires and in a flash of light Sec falls dead.

"Your own leader." The Doctor said morosely. "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him." The Doctor turned to the human daleks. "Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?"

"Warning. Dalek humans show increased levels of serotonin." Dalek controller said.

"If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptize them." The Doctor said as he spread his arms wide.

"Dalek humans, take aim." The Daleks take aim Stella gripped Martha and Franks hands as Tallulah and Laszlo cling to each other.

"What are you waiting for? Give the command!" The Doctor yelled.

"Exterminate!" The Doctor tenses, but nothing happens. "Exterminate!"

"Obey. Dalek humans will obey." The Dalek yelled.

"They're not firing. What have you done?" Martha asked in wonder looking over to Stella who was grinning wildly as she clapped her hands together and bounced on her heels.

"You will obey. Exterminate." The Dalek ordered.

"Why?" The Forman Dalek questioned.

"Daleks do not question orders." The Dalek said.

"But why?" The Forman Dalek asked again.

"You will stop this." The Dalek ordered.

"But why?" The Forman asked.

"You must not question." The Dalek ordered louder.

"But you are not our master. And we, we are not Daleks." The Forman worked out.

"No, you're not. And you never will be." Stella said with a smile as she hopped up onto the tops of the chairs walking across them over to the Doctor, almost falling a few times, but she was just too excited to care.

"She's right, sorry, we got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord and Human DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom." The Doctor said with a smug smile.

"Free will is a beautiful thing is it not?" Stella laughed happily.

"If they will not obey, then they must die." The Dalek shoots the foreman.

"Get down!" The Doctor yelled grabbing Stella and pulling her to the ground as everyone else dropped below the seats as the Daleks and their mutated human's fire at each other.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Dalek's yelled.

"Destroy the hybrids. Destroy." Controller ordered.

"Exterminate!" A Dalek is destroyed, blown to bits.

"Extermin…" And the other gets its head blown up. The Doctor and Stella cautiously run over to the human Daleks, who all looked unsure of what to do next.

"It's all right, it's all right, it's all right. You did it. You're free." The Doctor said softly.

"The Dalek humans are failures. Destruct! Destruct! Destruct!" The Controller ordered from the lab. There is a high-pitched sound. The mutants clutch their heads then die.

"No! They can't! They can't! They can't! They can't!" Stella yelled as she held one of the Dalek humans as it fell to the ground. "It's ok I've got you I'm here." She felt her eyes swim as the Dalek human clung to her with a pain filled look while she rocked him back and forth before he died in her arms. "No, no, no..."

"What happened? What was that?" Martha asked in fear.

"They killed them, rather than let them live. An entire species. Genocide." The Doctor said bitterly.

"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed. One of the Dalek masters must still be alive." Laszlo breathed out.

"Oh, yes. In the whole universe, just one." The Doctor said darkly.

-0-

"Now what?" The Doctor asked as he stepped into the lab and up to the controller.

"You will be exterminated." The Dalek replied.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." The Doctor brushed off the threat. "Just think about it, Dalek…what was your name?"

"Dalek Caan." It answered.

"Dalek Caan." The Doctor repeated. "Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated, leaving only you. Right now you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion. Because I've just seen one genocide. I won't cause another. Caan, let me help you. What do you say?"

"Emergency temporal shift!" The cables fall off and the Dalek disappears before the Doctor can stop him.

"Doctor! Doctor! He's sick." Martha called out to the Doctor as they ran into the room, Stella carrying Laszlo with Tallulah close by. Laszlo was breathing hard and his fever was extremely high. "It's okay. You're all right. It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it."

"What is it, Doctor? What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe? What is it?" Tallulah asked, tears streaming down her eyes.

"It's time, sweetheart." Laszlo said in a breathy voice.

"What do you mean, time? What are you talking about?" Tallulah questioned.

"None of the slaves survive for long. Most of them only live for a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on because I had you. But now, I'm dying, Tallulah." Laszlo answered.

"No, you're not. Not now, after all this." Tallulah turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, can't you do something?"

"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H," The Doctor said then shot to his feet. "Just you watch me. What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one. Laszlo, just you hold on. There's been too many deaths today." The Doctor starts working with colored liquids. "Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! You got that? Not one. Tallulah, out of the way. The Doctor is in."

"Need a hand?" Stella asked as she stood up rolling back her sleeves.

"Never turned down free help before." The Doctor replied with a grin as they got to work, Stella following the Doctor's instructions.

-0-

"Well, I talked to them, and I told them what Solomon would've said, and I reckon I shamed one or two of them." Frank said as he walked up to them in the park. Laszlo was hiding his face under a fedora and a large trench coat with the collar turned up.

"What did they say?" The Doctor asked.

"They said yes." Frank smiled. "They'll give you a home, Laszlo. I mean, er, don't imagine people ain't going to stare. I can't promise you'll be at peace but, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for. People who ain't got nowhere else."

"Thank you. I can't thank you enough." Laszlo said gratefully. They all said their goodbyes before the time travelers departed back to the TARDIS.

"Do you reckon it's going to work, those two?" Martha asked as they strolled along.

"I don't know. Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York? That's what this city's good at. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig slave Dalek mutant hybrid too." The Doctor said with a smile.

"It sounds like a fairytale." Stella said brightly.

"The pig and the showgirl." Martha said.

"The pig and the showgirl." The Doctor repeated with approval.

"It just proves it, I suppose. There's someone for everyone." Martha said with a small smile.

"Maybe." The Doctor said, his thought's unintentionally drifting to Stella.

"Meant to say, I'm sorry." Martha said regaining his attention.

"What for?" The Doctor asked, confused.

"Just because that Dalek got away. I know what that means to you." Martha said sympathetically.

"Think you'll ever see it again?" Stella asked.

"Oh, yes. One day." The Doctor said as they stepped into the Tardis.

-0-

Stella rolled her back muscles loosening up as she stretched in the dance room she had found in the TARDIS. It had been a stressful adventure and she was ready to relax, so of course she turned to music. She wore a satin dark blue backless sweetheart top spaghetti strap halter top dress that really brought out her eyes and the lines that adorned her skin while on her feet were a pair of strappy silver dance heels. The outfit had been waiting for her in the dance room along with a place to change. She did a few practice moves getting into the flow before looking up.

"El Tango de Roxanne, instrumental version please." Stella asked and the music started up. "Thank you TARDIS."

Stella slowly moved as the song began then as the music picked up pace so did she moving around the floor in a complicated tango. Her hips swayed as she stalked across the floor her arms moving rhythmically with her. She was so caught up in the song that she did not see the Doctor poke his head into the room having heard the music.

She was hypnotic, the way she performed the tango, the way the dress hugged her figure and the way her eyes were closed in bliss like she was in a dream as she turned. He followed her with his eyes as she moved with the music swelling as she performed a series of jumps then turns that led her right to the door where he was her hand stretched behind her back the rest of her facing away from him.

Without a thought he took hold of her hand spinning her to him so that her leg wrapped around his automatically bringing them intimately close together. Her eyes opened in surprise, but the Doctor only smiled as he started to move around the floor with her. They moved as one, fluid as water, Stella throwing out her best moves smiling saucily at him. He lowered her into a deep dip then snapped her back up her left leg wrapping around his right as she raised her right leg straight up into the air, electricity shooting through them both.

Their eyes locked and they moved faster, the air growing tense with fiery emotion. He twirled her around once again then brought her in close as the music reached the climax both of them going down into a dip chest to chest their lips mere inches from each other's. Eyes locked breathing hard neither one moved for a time, hearts racing from exertion, attraction, and passion. The Doctor felt his eyes drift to her lips and a small thrill shot through Stella as watched them drift, her own eyes falling to his lips that were so kissably close, suddenly he looked away and stood putting some space between them.

"I didn't know you could dance like that." Stella commented running a hand through her hair trying to seem casual.

"Yeah, well, who did you think started the craze down in Buenos Aires and Montevideo." The Doctor said straightening his suit jacket with a smirk, his trench coat having been lost during the song thrown to the side.

"That must have been fun." Stella commented. "I haven't had a dance partner as good as you in a long time. We should do this again."

"Yeah." The Doctor trailed off sticking his hands in his pockets, an uncomfortable feeling settling in his stomach. "I better get back to the console room, got stuff that needs doing."

"Alright, see you later." Stella replied, confused by his sudden attitude change. The Doctor gave one last nod before retreating out of the room grabbing his jacket on the way out. He quickly walked to the main room and leaned against the console his hearts still beating wildly in his chest.

He quickly straightened up trying to ignore the way he felt inside as he started to work the controls. Soon he was joined by Martha and Stella, back in her street clothes, just as the ride really started to pick up.


	10. Chapter 10

The ride in the Tardis was as wild and bumpy as usual with Stella and Martha hanging on as tight as possible laughing the whole way as the Doctor ran around the console pulling on this and pushing that. The Tardis landed with the usual jolt sending them to the ground, and the Doctor put on the hand brake.

"There we go. Perfect landing." The Doctor said with a weak smile. "Which isn't easy in such a tight spot."

"You should be used to tight spots by now." Martha commented as she and Stella stood up. "Where are we?"

"The end of the line." The Doctor said. "No place like it."

Martha smiled in excitement as she and Stella ran to the doors. Stella glanced back at the Doctor and was confused by the sad look on his face. She watched as he walked down to them his eyes downcast.

"Doctor, are you ok?" Stella asked gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm fine." He replied with a tight smile taking her hand in his with a squeeze before they joined Martha outside the Tardis.

"Where are we?" Stella asked as she looked around the room she found herself in.

"Home." Martha replied. "You took me home?"

"In fact, the morning after we left, so you've only been gone about twelve hours." The Doctor said as he looked around. "No time at all, really."

"But all the stuff we've done. Shakespeare, New New York, old New York?" Martha questioned.

"Yep, all in one night, relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was. Books, CDs, laundry." The Doctor said as he picked up a piece from the laundry horse. Martha quickly grabbed it from him in embarrassment. "So, back were you were, as promised."

"This is it?" Martha asked sadly as she looked over to Stella who had tears in her eyes her heart dropping into her stomach. She should have known that this was all too good to be true.

"Yeah, I should probably er… I should get Stella home and well…" The Doctor said.

"Home? Doctor I'm a wonderer, I have no set home." Stella shook her head with a sigh. "Just drop me off wherever and I'll make my way from there."

"You could stick around here if you wanted." Martha offered making Stella smile.

"She can't, the chances of being seen by someone who will come to know me or her are too dangerous." The Doctor said as Stella roll her eyes.

"He's right unfortunately." Stella shot him a look, but he was refusing to look at her. "But I'll tell you what, the Doctor will drop me off in the future in a place where I can get my vortex fixed then I'll come visit you."

"Sounds great." Martha said with a smile just before her phone rang and the answering machine starts up.

"Hi, I'm out. Leave a message." The answering machine said.

"I'm sorry." Martha said apologizing for the interruption.

"Martha, are you there? Pick it up, will you?" Francine, Martha's mom said over the phone.

"It's Mum. It'll wait." Martha said.

"All right then, pretend that you're out if you like. I was only calling to say that your sister's on TV, on the news of all things, just thought you might be interested." Francine said. Martha grabs the remote and turns on the television, which was on standby.

'The details are top secret…" Lazurus began.

"How could Tish end up on the news?" Martha questioned. Tish was standing next to an elderly man who is making an announcement.

"Tonight, I will demonstrate a device which will redefine our world." Lazurus said.

"What does she do?" Stella asked looking at the TV.

"She's got a new job." Martha said. "PR for some research lab."

"With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human." Lazurus said to the reporters before him and Stella felt the lightbulb turn on.

"Professor! Professor!" The Reporters clambered. Martha puts the TV back on standby.

"Sorry. You were saying we should?" Martha said setting the remote back down.

"Yes, yes, we should…" The Doctor said retreating to the Tardis. "One trip is what I said."

"Yeah. I suppose things just kind of escalated." Martha said with a sad smile.

"Mmm. Seems to happen to me a lot." The Doctor commented.

"Thank you. For everything." Martha said to him.

"It was my pleasure." The Doctor said.

"I'll see you soon." Stella said as they hugged.

"See you soon." Martha replied tightening her hug before they released. "Good luck."

"You as well." Stella said before she followed the Doctor back into the Tardis, and it dematerializes. Stella sat in the captain's chair watching as the Doctor worked the controls. "You really don't want to know how he's going to change the definition of humanity." Stella said off handedly. "How could he possibly do that?"

Almost the moment she had heard Lazarus talking a sly plan had formed in her head. The Doctor looked up at her and knew that she was playing him, but the curiosity was just too much.

"You're good." He said as he worked the controls again.

"I know." Stella replied with a smirk.

"But after we find out then that's it." He said pointing at her as he ran by.

"We'll see." Stella said in a sing song voice as the Tardis materializes again in Martha's room. The Doctor ran to the door and stuck his head out.

"No, I'm sorry. Did he say he was going to change what it means to be human?" The Doctor asked a surprised Martha.

-0-

Stella jammed her hands into her pockets hunching her shoulders as she followed the Doctor through the Tardis leaving Martha to get ready. She had a spot of trouble and was hesitant to ask the Doctor, but what choice did she really have.

"This thing is formal, right?" Stella questioned.

"Yep." The Doctor popped his 'p'.

"I don't have anything to wear to a formal event, I only packed stuff for traveling." Stella said looking down at her long sleeved purple shirt, jeans, and black boots that she had put on after her shower. "And something tells me they won't let me in dressed like this no matter what your psychic paper says."

"Oh I'm sure we can find you something." The Doctor said opening a door and leading her into a room filled with racks and racks of clothing.

"Oh, wow." Stella said as she craned her head looking up at everything.

"Go ahead and see if you find anything you like, I have to go see where I left my tux." The Doctor said as he went off in one direction.

Stella wasted no time in beginning to shift through the different clothes items from all over the universe and different time periods. She looked through a ton of different dresses of every design ever conceived, but none of them struck her. Just when she was about to settle when the rack she was looking though shifted, the clothes parting to reveal a beautiful dress on a mannequin behind it.

"Oh it's beautiful, thank you." Stella breathed out and felt a warm hum in reply.

"You ready yet?" The Doctor called out as she took off her clothes.

"Not yet." Stella replied taking the dress of the mannequin. "Can't rush perfection."

"I'm not rushing perfection, I'm rushing you." The Doctor replied with a large smile as he finished pulling on his tux.

"Hah hah, very funny." Stella said rolling her eyes as she tossed a random ballet flat over the rack almost hitting the Doctor.

"Well hurry it up; I'll wait outside with Martha for you." The Doctor said as Stella pulled on the dress which fit like a glove in all the right places.

"Ok, try not to miss me too much." Stella replied and heard the Doctor leave with a laugh. After the dress was on flashing lights from the Tardis lead her over to a vanity table where makeup and accessories had been laid out for her use. "Tardis, you have great taste."

-0-

"Where's Stella?" Martha asked as the Doctor stepped out.

"She'll be along in a minute." The Doctor replied. "You look nice."

"Really, thanks." Martha said beaming at the compliment.

"No problem." The Doctor said then knocked on the Tardis door. "Come on Stella, don't have all night."

"I'm coming, hold your Crystilian Cloppers." Stella replied as she opened the door and stepped out. The Doctor felt his jaw drop of its own accord at the sight of her.

Stella wore a blue green shimmer deep V neck backless ruched banded pencil zipper dress and a pair of strappy ankle high silver heels. Her jewelry consisted of her ring to allow her to appear fully human, teardrop silver hoop earrings, a long teardrop sapphire crystal pendant that hung from silver chain, and a simple silver bracelet with sapphire chips the Tardis had laid out for her. She had curled her hair leaving it loose, applied a light silver dusting of eye shadow to her eyes with blue green accents, a few strokes of black mascara, some black eye liner, and her lips were painted a soft pink

"So how do I look?" Stella asked spinning around with a large smile as she twirled.

"Beautiful." The Doctor breathed out making Stella blush.

"You look pretty handsome yourself." Stella replied with a flirty smile.

"What are Crystilian Cloppers?" Martha asked snapping them out of their flirt mode.

"Oh..Uh…they're like horses, but made of organic crystal." He replied.

"They are beautiful when you watch them run just as the sun is setting. They cast off different color like a rainbow prism." Stella said with a wistful smile.

"That sounds amazing." Martha said.

"We should go there…oh right, last trip never mind." Stella said with a pout looking to the Doctor who rolled his eyes at her.

"Well we better get going this thing starts in a bit." Martha said with a smile at Stella's blatant attempts to get the Doctor to change his mind as the Doctor fiddled with his suit.

"Oh, black tie." The Doctor said as they walked down the street. "Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens."

"It's not the outfit, that's just you." Martha said with a smile. "Anyway, I think it suits you, in a James Bond kind of way."

"James Bond?" The Doctor scoffed then looked pleased at the compliment as they walked up to the building. "Really?"

"And bang goes the ego." Stella joked bumping him with her shoulder.

"Jealous." The Doctor replied bumping her back as the smiled at each other.

"Please, if you're James Bond then I'm the Black Widow." Stella smirked.

Martha watched them with slightly jealous eyes. Stella and the Doctor just seemed to get along so easily and their friendly flirting was driving her crazy. She liked the Doctor a lot to, but whenever she tried to hint at it he would always brush her off. Not in a mean way, but it still hurt none the less especially when he never brushed Stella off and what was worse was that neither of them seemed to realize where they were headed.

-0-

In the middle of the room is a circular dais and on it was a man-sized frosted glass chamber and four upright posts, slightly curved at the top to aim at the chamber. The room was filled with the best of the best all dressed up in beautiful gowns and expensive tuxes as waiters weave through them one passing them with a tray of food.

"Oh, look, they've got nibbles! I love nibbles." The Doctor said happily as he scooped some off the trey handing a few to Stella.

"Nice." Stella said as she popped a few into her mouth.

"Hello." Tish said as she walked up to them through the crowd.

"Tish." Martha said as she hugged her.

"You look great." Tish said hugging her back then stepping back. "So, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it?"

"Very." Martha said looking around the room.

"And two nights out in a row for you. That's dangerously close to a social life." Tish praised.

"If I keep this up, I'll end up in all the gossip columns." Martha added.

"You might, actually." Tish teased.

"Oh, it's not so bad, in a week more or less they forget you and move onto the next victim." Stella said trying to nab a few more treats from the Doctor, but he held them just out of her reach with a smirk. She poked him in the side causing him to jerk and drop a few which she caught and popped into her mouth with a triumphant smile.

"You should keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum, she's coming too, even dragging Leo along with her." Tish warned her.

"Leo in black tie? That I must see." Martha said looking around then noticed the pointed look Tish was sending to the Doctor and Stella. "This is, er, the Doctor and Stella."

"Hello." The Doctor said with a wave.

"Nice to meet you." Stella added with a smile.

"You as well." Tish replied then looked to the Doctor then back to Martha. "Is he with you?"

"Yeah." Martha answered with a smile.

"Third wheel then?" Tish said looking to Stella sympathetically.

"Not for long if I'm any good." Stella said winking at a passing man who smiled back until he saw the Doctor glaring at him from behind Stella and hurried off much to her confusion. "I think I might be a bit rusty though, Jack would be so ashamed."

"Actually I'm here with both of them." The Doctor said taking Stella's hand in his making her blush. She wouldn't lie and say she wasn't attracted to the Doctor, but the signals he was sending were confusing to say the least, one minute it's the trips over then the next he's being all possessive, it was nuts.

"But they're not on the list. How did they get in?" Tish asked breaking Stella out of her thoughts.

"They're my plus two." Martha said trying to sound convincing.

"So, this Lazarus, he's your boss?" The Doctor asked cutting in before Tish could ask more questions.

"Professor Lazarus, yes." Tish answered then smiled proudly. "I'm part of his executive staff."

"She's in the PR department." Martha said.

"I'm head of the PR department, actually." Tish corrected her.

"You're joking." Martha said surprised.

"I put this whole thing together." Tish said gesturing around them.

"Really? Good job." Stella commented as she looked around her eyes focusing on the machine. It was almost automatic with her in the presence of technology to instantly start to take it apart in her mind and what she was seeing was slightly troubling to say the least.

"So do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight?" The Doctor asked. "That looks like it might be a sonic microfield manipulator."

"He's a science geek. I should have known." Tish said with a laugh. "Got to get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later."

"Science geek? What does that mean?" The Doctor asked confused.

"That you're obsessively enthusiastic about it." Martha answered.

"Oh, nice." The Doctor said smiling at what he perceived as a compliment.

"Your father's caused me enough heartache already with his menopause and his trophy girlfriend." Francine grumbled as she walked into the party.

"Yeah, Mum, I know. It's just something he said last night." Leo said obviously annoyed at the topic.

"Martha." Francine said upon spotting her.

"Mum!" Martha gives her mother a big hug.

"All right, what's the occasion?" Francine asked in confusion.

"What do you mean? I'm just pleased to see you, that's all." Martha said quickly stepping back.

"You saw me last night." Francine said.

"I know. I just miss you. You're looking good, Leo." Martha said looking to her brother.

"Yeah. If anyone asks me to fetch them a drink, I'll swing for him." Leo joked with a mock glare.

"You disappeared last night." Francine said.

"I just went home." Martha answered.

"On your own?" Francine asked looking to the Doctor and Stella, but it was obvious that she was mostly looking to the Doctor.

"This is a friend of mine." Martha said introducing them. "The Doctor and my other friend Stella."

"Doctor what?" Francine asked still looking untrusting, but Stella could care less at the moment, that machine was really bothering her. There was something wrong about it.

"Stella, are you ok?" The Doctor asked quietly following her gaze as the conversation around them was tuned out.

"That machine, it's wrong, not quite sure how yet." Stella answered.

"No, it's just the Doctor." Martha answered. "We've been doing some work together."

"You all right, mate?" Leo asked looking to the distracted Doctor and Stella.

"You're on." Stella nudged him returning his attention to the others.

"It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones. Heard a lot about you." The Doctor said quickly.

"Have you? What have you heard, then?" Francine asked, not at all convinced.

"Oh, you know, that you're Martha's mother and…" The Doctor trailed off. "Er, no, actually, that's about it. We haven't had much time to chat. You know, been busy."

"Busy? Doing what, exactly?" Francine asked with an edge to her voice.

"Oh you know. Stuff." The Doctor said with a shrug.

"We're coming up with new ways to minimize the wait time in the waiting room of the hospitals thus getting the minor cases out faster so we can get to the larger emergencies faster plus giving them more attention." Stella said with a smile.

"And how are you associated with them?" Francine asked eyeing the young girl.

"I work as the head receptionist at the hospital and the Doctor and Martha were helping me decipher between bigger and smaller emergencies." Stella answered easily. "You have a very bright daughter; I see an important future ahead of her."

"Yes, we are all proud of her." Francine said with a smile then opened her mouth to say more, but Professor Lazarus taps on his glass for attention before she can speak.

"Nice, good job." The Doctor said whispered as the crowd quieted down.

"I know." Stella grinned.

"And so humble." The Doctor mumbled.

"Just as humble as you are." Stella countered before Lazarus started speaking preventing the Doctor from coming up with a retort.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle." Lazarus began his speech. "It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever.

Lazarus went inside the chamber and a pair of female scientists started up the machine pressing a big red button. The four columns started to oscillate and rotate around the chamber as they poured energy into it. Then an alarm sounded blaringly loud.

"Something's wrong." The Doctor said.

"It's overloading." Stella replied and the computer agreed. There were sparks from the controls, then smoke. The Doctor rushed over and got out his sonic screwdriver followed by Stella who started to work the controls directly.

"Somebody stop them. Get them away from those controls!" Lady Thaw ordered.

"If this thing goes up, it'll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?" The Doctor snapped. "We need to pull the plug."

"Doctor, you're a genius." Stella said as she ran over and pulled out a big power cable causing the contraption to slow down, then stop. Martha rushes to the chamber. "Get it open!"

Martha opened the door, and a young man staggered out much to Lady Thaws delight and the astonishment of everyone else.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy six years old and I am reborn!" Lazarus said and room erupted in wild applause.

"He did it. He actually did it." Lady Thaw cheered clapping her hands. Stella and the Doctor shared uneasy looks as they watched Lazarus descend into the awed crowd posing for the photographers.

"It can't be the same guy. It's impossible. It must be a trick." Martha said as they watched Lazarus mingle.

"Oh, it's not a trick. I wish it were." The Doctor replied.

"What just happened then?" Martha asked.

"He just changed what it means to be human." Stella replied crossing her arms.

"Excuse me." Thaw said as she made her way through the crowd to Lazarus. "That was the most astonishing thing I've ever seen. Look at you."

"This is only the beginning. We're not just making history, we're shaping the future, too." Lazarus said a wild gleam in his eyes.

"Think of the money we'll make. People will sell their souls to be transformed like that." Lady Thaw said greedily. "And I'll be first in line." Suddenly Lazarus stiffened and gasped, then grabbed a tray from a passing waiter and proceeds to eat all the food on it. "Richard."

"I'm famished." Lazarus said as the Doctor Stella and Martha approached.

"Energy deficit." The Doctor said.

"Always happens with this kind of process." Stella added nabbing a nibble from Lazarus's trey and popping it into her mouth.

"You speak as if you see this every day…?" Lazarus trailed off expecting their names.

"Doctor and my companion Stella Quinn." The Doctor supplied. "And well, no, not every day, but I have some experience of this kind of transformation."

"That's not possible." Lazarus argued.

"Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance." The Doctor said easily. "That's inspired."

"You understand the theory, then." Lazarus said impressed

"Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables." The Doctor replied.

"No experiment is entirely without risk." Lazarus replied uncaringly.

"That thing nearly exploded." Stella snapped. "You might as well have stepped into a blender."

"You're not qualified to comment." Thaw snapped back.

"If we hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded." The Doctor shot back.

"Then I thank you, Doctor, Miss Quinn." Lazarus said tightly. "But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less."

"You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests." Martha said.

"Look at me. You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need." Lazarus said with a confident smile.

"One supposed success does not mean it will turn out that way every time." Stella ground out. "You could have been a fluke or you're just not experiencing the side effects yet."

"This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially." Thaw said brushing Stella off.

"Commercially? You are joking. That'll cause chaos." Martha told them, shocked.

"Not chaos, change." Lazarus corrected her as if he were talking to a child. "A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve."

"This isn't about improving. This is about you and your customers living a little longer." The Doctor replied.

"Not a little longer, Doctor. A lot longer. Perhaps indefinitely." Lazarus said with a grin.

"Richard, we have things to discuss, upstairs." Thaw said starting to walk away.

"Goodbye, Doctor, Stella. In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were." Lazarus said taking Martha's hand and kissing the back of it then looked to Stella who as her hands clasped behind her and smirks at her before he leaves with Lady Thaw.

"Oh, he's out of his depth. No idea of the damage he might have done." The Doctor said as they watched him leave.

"You mean 'is doing.' They're going to sell that thing as is and not knowing a thing about the side effects." Stella said shaking her head. "You know they're not really going to test it, with all her money they'll just wave it through."

"So what do we do now?" Martha asked.

"Now? Well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests." The Doctor said looking excited,

"Lucky I've just collected a DNA sample then, isn't it?" Martha said as she held out her hand that Lazarus had kissed.

"Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star." The Doctor beamed making Martha smile back before they took off to the labs.

-0-

"I grew up over there. A tiny flat above a butcher's shop." Lazarus said as he and Lady Thaw looked out the office windows over the vast expanse of the city of Long at night.

"It'll have a blue plaque soon. Richard Lazarus lived here." Thaw said with a wide smile.

"It's gone. Destroyed in the war. The bombing." Lazarus said with a distant look in his eyes.

"Of course." Thaw said gravely.

"1940. Do you remember? Night after night. Explosions, guns, firestorm." Lazarus said with a haunted look.

"My parents had sent me to the country by then." Lady Thaw said.

"When the sirens went, we'd go to the cathedral there. We used to shelter in the crypt. The living cowering among the dead." Lazarus said bitterly.

"But look at what you've built here, now. You've laid the foundations for an empire. An empire we can rule together." She pulls him in for a kiss, and he pulls back in disgust. "Well, what's wrong?"

"Look at yourself, woman." Lazarus said taking her chin in his hand and moving her gaze to look into the reflection of the window.

-0-

"Amazing." The Doctor said as he starred at the image of the DNA strand through his brainy glasses.

"What?" Martha asked looking it over as well.

"Lazarus's DNA." The Doctor replied.

"I can't see anything different." Martha said.

"Look at it." Stella urged and as Martha took another look the DNA suddenly shifted, mutating before her eyes.

"Oh, my God. Did that just change?" Martha breathed out. "But it can't have."

"But it did." The Doctor replied leaning back.

"It's impossible." Martha said.

"And that's two impossible things we've seen so far tonight." Stella commented leaning back next to the Doctor.

"Don't you love it when that happens?" The Doctor asked with a smile.

"Beyond all reason." Stella said as she looked up at the Doctor returning his smile as he looked down at her.

"That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns." Martha said breaking their locked gazes.

"Hypersonic sound waves to destabilize the cell structure, then a metagenic program to manipulate the coding in the protein strands." The Doctor explained and Martha gave him a confused look.

"Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate." Stella explained the Doctor's explanation.

"But they're still mutating now." Martha pointed out.

"Because he missed something. Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilize." The Doctor said looking at the DNA. "Something that's trying to change him."

"Change him into what?" Martha asked.

"I don't know, but I think we need to find out." The Doctor replied.

"That woman said they were going upstairs." Martha said.

"Then let's go." Stella said as they rushed out of the room.

-0-

"This is his office, all right." Martha said as they ran into the large office.

"So where is he?" The Doctor questioned looking around the office.

"Don't know. Let's try back at the reception." Martha said and they started to leave until Martha saw a skeletal leg with a ladies shoe on it sticking out behind the desk.

"Oh my…" Stella breathed out covering her mouth with her free hand the other firmly clasped in the Doctor's hand.

"Is that Lady Thaw?" Martha asked.

"Used to be. Now it's just a shell." The Doctor said as he looked down at the withered remains of the body. "Had all the life energy drained out, like squeezing the juice out of an orange."

"Lazarus." Stella accused.

"Could be." The Doctor replied.

"Who else do we know that's genetically altered himself and now has unstable DNA?" Stella retorted.

"Good point." The Doctor allowed.

"So he's changed already?" Martha asked.

"Not necessarily. You saw the DNA. It was fluctuating." The Doctor pointed out. "The process must demand energy. This might not have been enough."

"So he might do this again?" Martha asked.

"Mmm." The Doctor hummed.

"I wouldn't say might more like will." Stella said as they went out into the hall and into the lift just before another arrived.

-0-

"I can't see him." Martha said as they looked around the room.

"He can't be far. Keep looking." The Doctor said then looked over to Stella who pulled out a pair of silver open toed crystal flats from her clutch purse and changed into them then stuffed her heels back into the purse. "What are you doing?"

"Getting ready for the chase sequence we all know is coming." Stella replied.

"Might not." The Doctor replied, but Stella just shot him a look.

"Hey, you all right, Marth?" Leo asked as Martha looked around. "I think Mum wants to talk to you."

"Have you seen Lazarus anywhere?" Martha asked distractedly.

"Yeah, well, he was getting cozy with Tish a couple of minutes ago." Leo said not sounding too happy about that.

"With Tish?" Stella asked as she and the Doctor jogged up.

"Ah, Doctor, Stella." Francine said as she joined the group.

"Where did they go?" The Doctor asked Leo ignoring Francine.

"Upstairs, I think. Why?" Leo asked as Stella shoved her bag into his hand.

"Watch this for me Leo, thanks." Stella said quickly.

"Doctor …." Francine tried again, but the Doctor runs past her pulling Stella along with him hand in hand, spilling her drink all over her with Martha following them. "I'm speaking to you!"

"Not now, Mum." Martha called over her shoulder before she disappeared into the crowd.

-0-

"Where are they?" Martha asked as they reached the top floor.

"Fluctuating DNA will give off an energy signature." The Doctor said as he pulled out his sonic and began to scan around them. "I might be able to pick it up." He said then his face lit up in triumph. "Got him."

"Where?" Martha asked worried for her sister. The doctor pointed up. "But this is the top floor."

"The roof." Stella said in realization and with that they took off in said direction. They reached the roof just in time to here Lazarus finish a quote.

"I find that nothing's ever exactly like you expect. There's always something to surprise you. Between the idea and the reality, between the motion and the act…" Lazarus said, but was cut off by the Doctor.

"Falls the Shadow." The Doctor answered.

"The Hollow Men, by TS Eliot, nice quote." Stella commented.

"So the mysterious Doctor and Stella know their Eliot. I'm impressed." Lazarus said giving them a calculated look.

"Oh I know him alright, in more ways than one." Stella smiled in remembrance, the Doctor giving her a double take. Stella caught his look and gave him a shrug with a playful wink.

"Martha, what are you doing here?" Tish bit out.

"Tish, get away from him." Martha said reaching out to her.

"What? Don't tell me what to do." Tish snapped.

"I wouldn't have thought you had time for poetry, Lazarus, what with you being busy defying the laws of nature and all." The Doctor said looking back to Lazarus.

"You're right, Doctor. One lifetime's been too short for me to do everything I'd like. How much more I'll get done in two or three or four." Lazarus's eyes gleamed at the prospect.

"Doesn't work like that. Some people live more in twenty years than others do in eighty." Stella replied shaking her head. "It's not the time that matters, it's the person."

"But if it's the right person, what a gift that would be." Lazarus said.

"Or what a curse, look at what you've done to yourself." The Doctor tried to reason with him.

"Who are you to judge me?" Lazarus growled.

"Over here, Tish." Martha motioned to her sister.

"You have to spoil everything, don't you? Every time I find someone nice, you have to go and find fault." Tish said as she stomped up to Martha. Lazarus fell to the ground as spasms ricked his body.

"Tish, he's a monster!" Martha tried to explain.

"I know the age thing's a bit freaky, but it works for Catherine Zeta-Jones." Tish said with a shrug.

"Yeah well she didn't fall for something that looked like that." Stella pointed out as Tish turned and saw the transformation in progress of Lazarus changing into a massive bony scorpion with a human face.

"What's that?" Tish gasped out.

"Run!" The Doctor yelled grabbing Stella's hand and pulling her along once again, but by now she was getting used to it, in fact she found herself reaching for him more and more.

-0-

The Doctor soniced the roof door shut and they run down the stairs as fast as they could.

"Are you okay?" Martha asked Tish.

"I was going to snog him." Tish replied as they ran into the hall with the elevators.

"EEEWWWW!" Stella grimaced before the lights started to slicker and the sounds of Lazarus banging against the door filled the area.

'Security one. Security one. Security one.' The lights went out and the doors all closed.

"What's happening?" Martha called out.

"An intrusion. It triggers a security lockdown. Kills most of the power. Stops the lifts, seals the exits." Tish explained.

"Oh, brilliant." Stella muttered.

"He must be breaking through that door. The stairs, come on!" The Doctor urged them down the stairs just as a loud bang followed by a menacing growl reached their ears.

"He's inside!" Martha said fearfully.

"We haven't got much time!" The Doctor said as they continued down the stairs.

"Then we should run faster." Stella pointed out.

-0-

"Tish, is there another way out of here?" The Doctor questioned as they ran back into the main room and up to Tish.

"There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now." Tish pointed.

"Martha, setting fifty four. Hurry." The Doctor throws the sonic screwdriver to Martha. "Listen to me! You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!"

"Don't be ridiculous. The biggest danger here is choking on an olive." A woman scoffed.

"That's what you think lady." Stella said as the mutant Lazarus appears on the mezzanine, and jumped down, smashing a table causing panic to, of course, erupt all around them.

"Mum, get back!" Leo pulled Francine back. The mutant's tail sends a table flying hitting Leo who pushed his mother out of the way just in time.

"Leo!" Francine called out as the mutant stood over the frozen woman and opened its jaws sideways, then it bought its tail over, and another mouth appeared.

"No! Get away from her!" The Doctor yelled, but it was too late and a desiccated corpse falls to the floor.

"Leo. Leo." Francine said running to his side as the mutant turned to them.

"Lazarus! Leave them alone." The Doctor ordered.

"Get away from them." Stella yelled as she picked up a chair chucking it at Lazarus hitting him in the back. He turned towards the Doctor and Stella with an angry snarl allowing Martha to run to her family.

"Martha." Francine said when she saw her, her relief evident.

"Come on, stay with me. You're okay." Martha said holding Leo up starting to check him over.

"What's the point? You can't control it. The mutation's too strong. Killing those people won't help you. You're a fool. A vain old man who thought he could defy nature." The Doctor bit out in disgust.

"Only Nature got her own back, didn't she? You're a joke, Lazarus! A footnote in the history of failure!" Stella mocked as she and the Doctor lead the mutant off down a corridor.

"Stella, this isn't safe, you should go back." The Doctor said as they ran, but she just grabbed onto his hand.

"No, you don't have to do this alone." Stella said sternly. "I'm not going to let you be alone anymore…" The Doctor looked at her in surprise, feeling his hearts give a jolt. "…weather you like it or not."

"I like it." The Doctor replied after a moment of silence with a soft smile which Stella returned as they squeezed their hands tighter together picking up their speed to out run Lazarus soon losing him. They didn't stop running thought until they came to a room filled with pipes and control panels. They carefully made their way through it all making sure to not make a noise.

"It's no good. You can't stop me." Lazarus said as he searched for them.

"That is literally what everyone says that I have met so far with evil intent before we do." Stella replied.

"Is that the same arrogance you had when you swore nothing had gone wrong with your device?" The Doctor asked.

"The arrogance is yours." Lazarus said following their voices. "You can't stand in the way of progress."

"You call feeding on innocent people progress? You're delusional!" The Doctor said.

"It is a necessary sacrifice." Lazarus said getting closer.

"That's not your decision to make." The Doctor said with a glare.

"Peek a boo." Lazarus said hanging from the ceiling.

"Oh, hello." The Doctor said cheerfully.

"Wow, you are super ugly." Stella said before she could stop herself. The next moment found the Doctor and Stella running out and down another corridor. "Maybe I shouldn't have insulted him."

"You think?!" The Doctor replied.

"It slipped out." Stella defended herself.

"In here." The Doctor said pulling her into a lab.

The Doctor jumps on a bench and starts to take a light fitting apart, while Stella turns on a Bunsen burner and snuffs out the flame. They pull another tube off a gas fitting and hides behind another bench.

"More hide and seek? How disappointing. Why don't you come out and face me?" Lazarus taunted as the Doctor and Stella turn on as much gas as they can.

"Have you looked in the mirror lately? Why would I want to face that, hmm?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh so you get to insult him and I don't? That is so unfair." Stella pouted.

"We'll talk about it later." The Doctor and Stella run to the back door and the Doctor hits the light switch as they leave then KaBOOM goes the laboratory. The Doctor and Stella run down the corridor until they ran into Martha. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm returning this. I thought you might need it." Martha said holding out the Sonic.

"How did you…?" Stella asked.

"I heard the explosion. I guessed it was you." Martha replied.

"Good guess." Stella commented.

"We blasted Lazarus." The Doctor said.

"Did you kill him?" Martha asked.

"Define kill." Stella said as a roar echoed down the hall followed by Lazarus running after them.

"More sort of annoyed him, I'd say." The Doctor said grabbing the girls and pulling them down the hall.

"What now? We've just gone round in a circle." Martha said.

"Focus on the positive, we're alive." Stella pointed out.

"We can't lead him outside." The Doctor said as they ran back into the main room once again. "Come on, get in."

The Doctor pushed the girls into the sonic microfield manipulator chamber and quickly jumped in behind them, the mutant is outside.

"Are we hiding?" Martha asked.

"No, he knows we're here. But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us." The Doctor reasoned.

"But we're trapped." Martha pointed out.

"Well, yeah, that's a slight problem." The Doctor allowed.

"You mean you don't have a plan?" Stella asked.

"Yes, the plan was to get inside here." The Doctor answered.

"Then what?" Martha asked.

"Well, then I'd come up with another plan." The Doctor said.

"In your own time, then." Martha said.

"Hey!" Stella and Martha yelped as the Doctor searched his pockets.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry." The Doctor apologized.

"Well what you grabbed wasn't the screwdriver." Stella said crossing her arms as best she could over her chest with a narrowed look.

The Doctor blushed bright red, his eyes unintentionally glancing below her neckline before snapping up to her face. She gave him a raised eyebrow and his face went redder as he focused on retrieving his sonic screwdriver out of his inside pocket.

"Here we are." The Doctor said smiling in success.

"What're you going to do with that?" Martha asked.

"Improvise." The Doctor answered as he slid down to the floor and opened a panel, then started working with the wires and processors he found there.

"Enjoying the view." Stella asked with her eyebrow once again raised. The Doctor looked up in confusion, his eyes getting a good look at her long legs, then quickly back down with another deep blush on his face.

"I still don't understand where that thing came from. Is it alien?" Martha asked.

"No, for once it's strictly human in origin." The Doctor said.

"Human? How can it be human?" Martha asked.

"Probably from dormant genes in Lazarus's DNA. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. And it looks like they're becoming dominant." The Doctor explained.

"So it's a throwback." Stella surmised.

"Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake." The Doctor nodded.

"It's like Pandora's box." Martha said.

"Exactly. Nice shoes, by the way." The Doctor commented.

"They are aren't they? Can I borrow them sometime when there's not some monster bent on destruction chasing after us?" Stella asked.

"So never." Martha said.

"Pretty much." Stella replied just as the machine started up.

"Doctor, what's happening?" Martha asked.

"Sounds like he's switched the machine on." Stella said.

"And that's not good, is it?" Martha asked.

"Well, I was hoping it was going to take him a little bit longer to work that out." The Doctor said.

"I don't want to hurry you, but I don't want to be a life sucking mutant or whatever I would change into." Stella said as the machine gathered speed.

"I know, I know. Nearly done." The Doctor said working faster.

"Well, what're you doing?" Martha asked.

"I'm trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it." The Doctor said.

"Will that kill him?" Stella asked in concern.

"When he transforms, he's three times his size. Cellular triplication. So he's spreading himself thin." The Doctor said.

"We're going to end up like him!" Martha said in shock.

"You might, the Doctor's not human and I'm only part human so who knows what we'll end up like." Stella pointed out.

"Just one more!" The Doctor said then there was a big blast of energy that threw the mutant backwards. The machine stopped allowing the Doctor Stella and Martha to come out.

"So that's what it's like to be a sardine." Stella commented stretching her back.

"I thought we were going to go through the blender then." Martha said.

"Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity. I must be a bit out of practice." The Doctor said thoughtfully.

"Or you're going senile in your old age." Stella said playfully.

"Oi!" The Doctor said his lips twitching as he tried to hide his smile.

"Oh, God. He seems so human again. It's kind of pitiful." Martha said as they looked down at Lazarus laying naked face down on the floor.

"Eliot saw that, too. This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper." The Doctor said with a sad look.

-0-

"She's here. Oh, she's all right." Tish said as she Francine and Leo ran over to Martha.

"Ah, Mrs. Jones. We still haven't finished our chat." The Doctor said cheerfully as he walked up to her only to get slapped hard across the face.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" Stella snapped in surprise as gently placed her hand on the Doctor's cheek.

"Keep away from my daughter, both of you." Francine snapped at them.

"Mum, what are you doing?" Martha snapped.

"All of the mothers, every time." The Doctor said placing his hand over Stella's, her cool hand soothing his aching cheek.

"That suit really is bad luck." Stella commented.

"He's dangerous. I've been told things." Francine said.

"What are you talking about?" Martha asked.

"Look around you, nothing but death and destruction." Francine said gesturing around them.

"This isn't his fault. He saved us, all of us!" Martha argued.

"And it was Tish who invited everyone to this thing in the first place. I'd say technically, it's her fault." Tish elbowed Leo just as a big crash sounded in the direction the ambulance with Lazarus hand taken. The Doctor and Stella share a look then run off to investigate.

"Leave them." Francine said, but Martha shakes her head and follows the Doctor and Stella.

"Martha?" Tish said as she started to follow.

"Not you, too?" Francine said.

"Sorry." Tish said and ran after Martha.

-0-

The Doctor and Stella came up to the back of the ambulance which was open, and only contained desiccated corpses.

"Lazarus, back from the dead." The Doctor said.

"Should have known, really, with that name." Stella said as the Doctor scanned with the screwdriver.

"Where's he gone?" Martha asked as she ran up to them with Tish.

"That way. The church." The Doctor said.

"Cathedral. It's Southwark Cathedral. He told me." Tish said and they took off to the Cathedral.

"Do you think he's in here?" Martha asked as they walked into the church.

"Where would you go if you were looking for sanctuary?" The Doctor asked as they walk carefully up the nave to the altar and found Lazarus shivering behind it, wrapped in the red blanket.

"I came here before, a lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat here, just a child, the sound of planes and bombs outside." Lazarus said as the Doctor stepped forward motioning for the girls to stay back.

"The Blitz." The Doctor said.

"You've read about it." Lazarus said.

"I was there." The Doctor replied.

"You're too young." Lazarus shot back.

"So are you." The Doctor commented making Lazarus laugh, then his body makes painful cracking sounds.

"In the morning, the fires had died, and I was still alive. I swore I'd never face death like that again. So defenseless. I would arm myself, fight back, defeat it." Lazarus said in determination.

"That's what you were trying to do today?" The Doctor asked.

"That's what I did today." Lazarus corrected.

"What about the other people who died?" The Doctor asked.

"They were nothing. I changed the course of history." Lazarus said.

"Any of them might have done too. You think history's only made with equations? Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that." The Doctor said.

"No, Doctor. Avoiding death, that's being human. It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fibre of being. I'm only doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more successful." Lazarus replied.

"Look at yourself. You're mutating! You've no control over it. You call that a success?" Stella asked as she walked up to the Doctor and Lazarus trying to get him to see reason.

"I call it progress. I'm more now that I was. More than just an ordinary human." Lazarus answered her.

"There's no such thing as an ordinary human." The Doctor said as Lazarus convulses again.

"He's going to change again any minute." Stella said quietly.

"I know. If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work." The Doctor said in a sotto voice.

"Up there?" Stella asked following his gaze up.

"You're both so sentimental." Lazarus said then looked to the Doctor. "Maybe you are older than you look."

"I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one. In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything turn to dust. If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone." The Doctor said sadly. Stella gently slipped her hand into the Doctor's squeezing it gently, empathizing with his pain.

"That's a price worth paying." Lazarus said.

"Is it?" Stella asked softly, a ghost of a sarcastic smile on her lips, her eyes distant and tired. "I never thought so."

"I will feed soon." Lazarus ignored her.

"I'm not going to let that happen." The Doctor said.

"You've not been able to stop me so far." Lazarus said.

"Leave him, Lazarus! He's old and bitter. I thought you had a taste for fresher meat." Martha taunted leading Lazarus away.

"Martha!" Stella called out as she ran after her friend ducking and pushing her away from Lazarus's grasp.

"Stella, Martha, no." The Doctor called out as Lazarus lunges for them as they ran.

"What are you doing?" Martha snapped as Tish ran with them.

"Keeping you out of trouble!" Tish replied.

"Good luck." Stella said then called down to the Doctor. "Doctor! The tower!"

Stella Martha and Tish run up the narrow spiral staircase ahead of Lazarus who has to keep stopping as he mutates.

"Did you hear that?" Tish asked.

"He's changed again." Martha said fearfully.

"Keep moving. We've got to lead him up." Stella urged the girls ahead of her as the Doctor goes back to the transept, underneath the central tower, and looks for them.

"Where are they? Martha?! Stella?!" The Doctor called out and Stella looked down from the passageway in the clerestory.

"Doctor!" Stella called down.

"Take him to the top. The very top of the bell tower, do you hear me?!" The Doctor called up.

"Up to the top!" Stella replied.

"Stella." Tish called out.

"Then what?" Stella asked.

"Stella, come on!" Martha grabbed her leading the mutant heading their way as the Doctor heads for the organ loft and gets out his screwdriver.

"Hypersonic sound waves." The Doctor said sticking the sonic into the socket and started pulling out the stops. "Inspired."

"There's nowhere to go. We're trapped!" Tish said as they came to the top of the tower.

"This is where he said to bring him." Stella said.

"All right, so then we're not trapped. We're bait." Tish said sarcastically.

"He knows what he's doing. We have to trust him." Martha said.

"Ladies." Lazarus said with a smirk.

"Stay behind me. If he takes me, make a run for it. Head down the stairs. You should have enough time." Stella said standing in front of the others.

"But…" Tish started.

"You can't…" Martha said at the same time.

"Just do as I say." Stella snapped as the mutant tried to clamber across the gap under the bell, instead of going around the wooden frame. Stella broke off a chunk of the railing and swung hitting Lazarus hard across the face forcing him back, a gash cutting across his cheek and nose.

"I hope it's a good acoustic in here." The Doctor presses on both pedals and starts playing causing the mutant to start lashing with its tail, hitting Stella.

"Stella!" Tish and Martha called out as Stella hangs on to the bottom of the wooden walkway, screaming.

"Hold on!" Martha yelled.

"Get away from her!" Tish yelled as well.

"We need to turn this up to eleven." The Doctor said.

The organ notes reverberate, hurting the mutant as well as Tish Stella and Martha. Stella starts to lose her grip just as the mutant falls to the cathedral floor below. The Doctor stops playing when he hears the crash, and goes to look. A naked man is lying on the flagstones amid a shower of broken wood. Stella's fingers slip just as Tish and Martha grab her wrists.

"We've got you. Hold on." Martha said as they pulled her up and into a tight hug.

"Stella? Martha?" The Doctor called up.

"We're okay!" Stella called down. "We're all okay!"

"That was a close one." Martha commented.

"Thanks for the save." Stella said.

"It's your Doctor you should be thanking." Tish pointed out.

"Oh I will." Stella said with a nod.

"I told you he'd think of something." Martha said.

"Never doubted him." Stella said.

"He cut it a bit fine there, didn't he?" Tish commented.

"He always does. It's more fun that way." Stella said with a breathless laugh as she stood up and began to make her way down the stairs.

"Who is he?" Tish asked.

"He's, he's the Doctor." Martha said.

"Well whoever he is, he's really captured that Stella girl's attention and I think the feeling is mutual." Tish commented not knowing the effect it had on Martha.

-0-

Stella ran down the stairs finding the Doctor kneeling down next to Lazarus's body. Stella walked up to him as the Doctor closed Lazarus' eyes and he turned back into an old man. She gently placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder knowing that anyone's death hurt him, good or bad.

He stood up and looked down at her his eyes impossibly sad as she pulled him into a tight hug. He laid his cheek against the top of her head and surrendered to the comfort of her hug. Martha and Tish arrived just as they pulled apart, Martha feeling a pang of jealousy. It seemed they were getting much closer.

"I didn't know you could play?" Martha said walking up to them.

"Yeah, we should do a duet sometime." Stella said with a smile.

"Oh, well, you know, if you hang around with Beethoven, you're bound to pick a few things up." The Doctor said off handedly.

"Hmm, especially about playing loud." Stella said rubbing one of her ears.

"Sorry?" The Doctor joked as he leaned forward making the girls laugh.

-0-

After everything had been cleared up they had all gone back to Martha's home, the Doctor and Stella changing back into their street clothes. Stella could only hope that her plan had worked, that maybe she and Stella would get to travel with the Doctor some more. She felt that he really needed them and she wanted to be there for him.

"Something else that just kind of escalated, then." The Doctor said as the girls watched him unlock the Tardis.

"I can see a pattern developing. You should take more care in the future. And the past. And whatever other time period find yourselves in." Martha said.

"It's good fun, though, isn't it?" The Doctor commented.

"Yeah." Stella said resting her hand against the Tardis, feeling her heart break a little at the thought of never seeing her or the Doctor again, unless she had managed to change his mind.

"So, what do you say, one more trip?" The Doctor asked looking between the two girls.

"No. Sorry." Martha said shaking her head.

"What do you mean? I thought you liked it." The Doctor pointed out.

"We do, but we can't go on like this. One more trip. It's not fair." Stella said looking up at him.

"What're you talking about?" The Doctor asked in confusion.

"We don't want to be just a passenger anymore. Someone you take along for a treat. If that's how you still see me, we'd rather stay here." Martha said as Stella nodded in agreement.

"Okay, then. If that's what you want." The Doctor said and Stella let out a breath of air, a smile forming on her face.

"Right. But we've already said goodbye once today. It's probably best if you just go." Martha turns her back, but he just stands there. "What is it?"

"What? He said okay." Stella pointed out.

"Sorry?" Martha looked between Stella and the time lord.

"Okay." The Doctor nodded towards the Tardis.

"Oh, thank you, thank you!" Martha chanted as she hugged the Doctor followed by Stella who was just as excited.

"Well, you two were never really just passengers, were you? And I always promised Stella could travel with me, about time I lived up to it." The Doctor said as they go into the Tardis, and it dematerializes just before the telephone rings.

"Hi, I'm out. Leave a message."

"Martha, it's your mother. Please phone me back. I'm begging you. I know who this Doctor and Stella really are. I know they're dangerous. You are going to get yourself killed. Please, trust me. This information comes from Harold Saxon himself. You are not safe!" Francine begged.


	11. Chapter 11

Stella was currently in her room on the Tardis singing as she danced around to the Beatles. On all of the available spaces were different books, her tool kits, some of her inventions, music books for every instrument, and writing materials, all of it coming out of her pockets.

"Come in." Stella called out when there was a knock on her door. The Doctor poked his head in with a smile.

"Just came to see how you were settling in." The Doctor said as he sauntered into the room looking around at all the odds and ends.

They had taken off in the Tardis when Martha asked if they could go back real quick and pick a few things up. The Doctor explained to them that the Tardis could provide for all of their needs and make copies of anything they had by reading their minds. Stella instantly rushed off to find her room, super excited to see what was there.

The walls and ceiling painted like nebulas of all kinds in shifting colors with twinkling stars glittering amongst them. The carpet was a deep purple, the bed spread was dark blue with deep purple accents, and a dark blue couch in the corner with a deep purple throw blanket over it. The desk, shelves, a piano, and every other wooden surface was painted navy blue and the lamp shades on the deep purple lamps on the nightstand and the tall lamp in the corner were painted like the nebulas.

"Nice room." The Doctor commented as he looked around.

"I know! This is my dream room." Stella said with a bright smile as she turned around. "How?"

"The Tardis is sentient and psychic; she knew what you liked the moment you stepped inside." The Doctor said as he wondered around.

"I knew it." Stella said snapping her fingers then noticed the Doctor's look as he poked around her room. "I mean I knew she had to be more than just an amazing ship, when I first stepped in she just seemed alive somehow to me, I could feel it. Then there was the way she took care of me when Boe…" Stella's face fell. "…well I just knew."

"What's this?" The Doctor asked picking up one of the cases that were in the room, changing the subject.

"Violin." Stella answered.

"And this?" He asked.

"Guitar, and before you ask that's a sax, flute, cello, and a few other instruments I like to play." Stella said.

"Very nice." He said then held out his hand. "Here, lend me your phone."

"What for?" Stella asked as she took it out a silver slick oval shaped device with a blue touch screen and handed it to him.

"So I can do this." The Doctor replied holding his screwdriver up to the phone then handed it back to her. "There you go, temporal and universal roaming."

"Really?! That is so cool." Stella said looking the phone over.

"So you're a musician and a dancer, anything else?" He prompted as they walked back to the main console room of the TARDIS.

"Yep. I'm a technology enthusiast." Stella bragged happily as she started to dance around the room when they arrived.

"Was it downloaded into you or…" The Doctor trailed off.

"No, it wasn't downloaded into me." Stella shot him a look. "I learned it at first in order to repair myself. You see my captors wanted me to be dependent on them for repairs so I would always be forced to go back to them so they didn't give me any knowledge like that. When I was freed I had to learn on my own and came to find that I really enjoyed making things." Stella explained. "As for art and music, I've always loved it."

"Impressive." The Doctor said as he leaned against the console, Stella coming to a stop next to him also leaning against the console.

"Well when you live as long as I do as you have then you pick up a lot of things as you probably have." Stella shot back starring up at him as he starred down at her.

"Maybe I picked up a little here and there." He replied leaning a little closer to her.

"What kind of stuff have you picked up?" Stella asked as she started to raise up on her toes.

"This and that..." The Doctor replied softly his eyes drifting to her lips and her eyes to his lips before they're gazes darted back up to one another.

"You'll have to show me what you can do some time." Stella said about to close the remaining gap.

"That is amazing." Martha said as she came into the control room causing the two of them to jerk back, the spell broken.

"So you like it I take." The Doctor said a bright smile slipping onto his face as he worked the console. He glanced over at Stella whose face was flushed their eyes meeting for a moment before she looked away.

"I love it, it's my dream room." Martha replied walking up to the Doctor smiling brightly at him as Stella was going through her phone checking out all it could do now that the Doctor had soniced it, also it distracted her from what almost happened. She was on the internet and had never had such great reception. She heard the Doctor ask for Martha's phone and repeated what he had done to hers to Martha's.

"Right, there we go." The Doctor said as he sonciced Martha's phone then tossed it back to her. "Universal roaming. Never have to worry about a signal again."

"No way. This is too mad. You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?" Martha asked in shock.

"As long as you know the area code. Frequent flier's privilege." The Doctor said with a grin.

"Well, go on, try it." Stella urged wanting to see if it worked for calls seeing as she had no one back home to call she couldn't try it out for herself. Suddenly the Tardis shuddered violently. "What was that?"

"Distress signal. Locking on. Might be a bit of…" The Doctor was cut off as they all fell to the floor hard while the ship rocked then came to an abrupt stop. "Turbulence. Sorry."

"Where are we?" Stella groaned out stumbling to her feet with the others.

"Come on. Let's take a look and find out." The Doctor replied walking over to the doors and pulling them open allowing a burst of steam in from the red glowing room.

"Distress signal transmitted."

"Whoa, now that is hot." The Doctor said as they stepped out.

"You're telling me." Stella said as she took of her wool pea coat and blue knit sweater dress revealing her purple spaghetti strap tank top which showed off her cyborg lines. She also wore along with a pair of dark skinny jeans and a pair of black heelless boots. She threw the jacket and sweater dress back into the Tardis. "Won't be needing those I think."

"Automated distress signal transmitted."

"Whuff, it's like a sauna in here." Martha said as they looked around.

"Venting systems." Stella commented looking to the Doctor as she pinned her hair up into a messy bun.

"Working at full pelt, trying to cool down. Wherever it is we are." The Doctor nodded as they walked over to a large door. "Well, if you can't stand the heat…"

The Doctor opened a bulkhead door walking through followed by Stella and Martha and found that on the other side, it was labelled Area 30.

"Oi, you three!" Riley yelled as he, McDonnell, and Scannell rushed toward them.

"Get out of there!" McDonnell yelled pulling them all in the rest of the way as the others closed the door behind them.

"Seal that door, now!" Riley man said.

"Who are you? What are you doing on my ship?" McDonnell demanded.

"Are you police?" Riley asked.

"Why would we be police?" Stella asked cocking her head to the side.

"We got your distress signal." Martha said.

"If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?" The Doctor asked.

"It went dead four minutes ago." McDonnell answered.

"So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering." Scannell said looking to McDonnell. "Captain."

'Secure closure active.'

"What?" McDonnell snapped.

"The ship's gone mad." Scannell said as another woman comes running towards them, bulkheads slamming shut behind her.

"Who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked in to area twenty seven." Erina snapped as the last bulkhead slammed shut. "Who are you?"

"He's the Doctor, she's Stella, and I'm Martha." Martha said with a wave.

"Hello." Stella added.

'Impact projection forty two minutes twenty seven seconds.'

"We'll get out of this." McDonnell said looking at the stricken faces of her crew as Stella wondered over to a porthole. "I promise."

"Doctor." Stella breathed out as he eyes widened.

"Forty two minutes until what?" The Doctor asked the crew.

"Doctor!" Stella snapped gaining his attention then motioned to the porthole. "Look."

"Forty two minutes until we crash into the sun." McDonnell answered grimly as the Doctor and Martha looked out the porthole with Stella as the oncoming sun.

"How many crew members on board?" The Doctor demanded turning from the porthole to the crew.

"Seven, including us." McDonnell answered.

"We transport cargo across the galaxy. Everything's automated." Scannell added. "We just keep the ship spaceworthy."

"Call the others, I'll get you out." The Doctor ordered as he ran back to where the TARDIS was followed by Martha and Stella until the reach the door to area 30.

"What's he doing?" Riley asked.

"No, don't!" McDonnell ordered just before the Doctor opened the door and is knocked down by the blast of heat. Stella quickly ran to the Doctor's side helping him up as Erina put on a welder's mask and shuts it again.

"But my ship's in there!" The Doctor called out.

"In the vent chamber?" Riley asked in disbelief.

"It's our lifeboat." Stella covered.

"It's lava." Scannell said.

"The temperature's going mad in there. Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising." Erina said as she looked at the gages.

"Channeling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get." Riley said.

"We're stuck here." Martha said her face falling.

"So, we fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun. Simple. Engineering down here, is it?" The Doctor asked starting down a hall.

"Yes." The Captain replied following him along with the others.

'Impact in forty twenty six.'

-0-

"Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?" the Doctor asked when they reached the engine room that looked more like a pile of scrap junk.

"Oh, my God." McDonnell breathed out as they looked over the mess.

"What the hell happened?" Scannell snapped.

"Oh, it's wrecked." Riley said.

"Pretty efficiently too." The Doctor commented.

"Someone knew what they were doing." Stella said looking over the machine then sending a concerned look up at the Doctor. "Sabotage, no doubt."

"Where's Korwin? Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?" McDonnell asked.

"No." Scannell shook his head.

"You mean someone did this on purpose?" Martha asked looking from the Doctor and Stella to the crew.

"Looks that way doesn't it." Stella said following the Doctor over to a screen that he began to rapidly type on as McDonnell goes to the intercom.

"Korwin, Ashton? Where are you? Korwin, can you answer?" McDonnell called out into the Comm. "Where the hell is he? He should be up here."

"Oh, we're in the Torajii system. Lovely." The Doctor said as he looked over the screen showing a new galaxy. "You are a long way from home Martha Jones. Half a universe away."

"Yeah. Feels it." Martha said.

"I haven't been out here in years." Stella said looking over the picture of the planets and pointed to one of the planets. "Jewelianna, that's where I rode the Crystillian Cloppers."

"And you're still using energy scoops for fusion?" The Doctor questioned.

"Hasn't that been outlawed yet?" Stella asked.

"We're due to upgrade next docking." McDonnell answered. "Scannell, engine report."

"No response." Scannell replied.

"What?" McDonnell said.

"They're burnt out. The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online." Scannell snapped.

"Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries." The Doctor pointed out.

"We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship." McDonnell replied.

"Yeah, with twenty nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time." Scannell shook his head.

"Can't you override the doors?" Martha asked.

"No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed." Scannell replied.

"So a sonic screwdriver's no use." The Doctor lamented.

"Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance." Scannell ground out.

"Oh, listen to you. Defeated before you've even started. Where's your Dunkirk spirit?" The Doctor admonished them. "Who's got the door passwords?"

"They're randomly generated. Reckon I know most of them." Riley replied.

"And you are?" Stella questioned.

"Sorry. Riley Vashti." He answered with a smile.

"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti? Get on it." Stella urged him on.

"Well, it's a two person job. One, a technician for the questions, and the other to carry this. The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?" Riley joked.

"Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?" McDonnell joked back as Riley pulled on a massive backpack that contained a portable computer and a keyboard.

"Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice." Riley carried on.

"I'll help you. Make myself useful." Martha offered.

"It's remotely controlled by the computer panel. That's why it needs two." Riley told her as they ran off.

"Oi. Be careful." The Doctor called out after her.

"You two too." Martha pointed at them both.

"Watch out for her Riley, anything happens to her I'll throw you out of an air lock." Stella threatened as she helped the Doctor.

"Yes ma'am." Riley called back.

"McDonnell. It's Ashton." Ashton called out over the comm.

"Where are you? Is Korwin with you?" McDonnell asked going to the comm.

"Get up to the med-center now!" Ashton replied. The Doctor Stella and McDonnell run out past Martha and Riley.

'Impact in thirty four thirty one.'

-0-

They all rushed into a room to see a man and a woman trying to hold another man down so they could put him in what looked like an MRI scanner, but was really a stasis chamber.

"Argh! Stop it!" Korwin groaned as he struggled in their grasp.

"Korwin, it's Abi. Open your eyes, I need to take a look at you." Abi pleaded.

"Korwin! What's happened? Is he okay?" McDonnell demanded in concern.

"Help me! It's burning me!" Korwin called out.

"How long's he been like this?" The Doctor asked also looking him over.

"Ashton just brought him in." Abi replied as the Doctor scans Korwin with his screwdriver.

"What are you doing?" McDonnell demanded.

"Don't get too close." Stella cautioned.

"Don't be so stupid. That's my husband." McDonnell snapped.

"And he's just sabotaged our ship." Ashton told her.

"What?" McDonnell gasped.

"He went mad. He put the ship onto secure closure, then he set the heat pulse to melt the controls." Ashton recounted what had happened.

"No way. He wouldn't do that." McDonnell denied.

"I saw it happen, Captain." Ashton argued.

"Korwin? Korwin, open your eyes for me a second." The Doctor tried.

"I can't!" Korwin cried out.

"Yeah, course you can. Go on." The Doctor urged.

"Don't make me look at you, please." Koorwin pleaded as Stella spotted a hypo-gun from on a medical tray.

"All right, all right, all right. Just relax." The Doctor said as Stella took the hypo gun looking to Abi.

"Sedative?" Stella asked.

"Yes." Abi nodded and Stella sedated Korwin.

"What's wrong with him?" McDonnell asked.

"Rising body temperature, unusual energy readings." The Doctor replied.

"Doctor we can use the Stasis chamber, keep him cool." Stella said looking to the machine.

"I do love a good stasis chamber. Keep him sedated in there. Regulate the body temperature." The Doctor agreed then looked thoughtful. "And, just for fun, run a bio-scan and tissue profile on a metabolic detail."

"Just doing them now." Abi replied.

"Oh, you're good." The Doctor commented. "Anyone else presenting these symptoms?"

"Not so far." Abi replied.

"Well, that's something." The Doctor said looking to Stella.

"Might be a dormant virus." Stella said thoughtfully.

"Will someone tell me what the matter with him is?" McDonnell snapped.

"Some sort of infection. We'll know more after the test results." The Doctor replied. "Now, allons-y, back downstairs." The Doctor looked to the captain. "Hey. See about those engines." McDonnell hesitated. "Go. Hey. Go."

McDonnell reluctantly followed Ashton out of the med bay.

"Call us if there's news." The Doctor ordered. "Any questions?"

"Yeah. Who are you?" Abi asked.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Stella Quinn." The Doctor replied before they both left.

'Heat shield failing. At twenty-five percent. Impact in thirty two fifty.'

-0-

"Abi, how's Korwin doing? Any results from the bio-scan?" The Doctor used the comm when they reached the engine room.

"He's under heavy sedation. I'm just trying to make sense of this data. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll let you know." Abi replied.

"Might want to check in with Martha and Riley." Stella commented.

"Already on it." The Doctor replied. "Martha? Riley? How're you doing?"

"Area twenty nine." Martha replied. "At the door to twenty eight."

"Yeah, you've got to move faster." The Doctor urged.

"We're doing our best." Martha replied.

"Find the next number in the sequence three one three three three one, three six seven." Riley read off. "What?"

"You said the crew knew all the answers." Martha looked to him.

"The crew's changed since we set the questions." Riley told her.

"You're joking." Martha breathed out.

"Three seven nine." The Doctor and Stella said at the same time.

"What?" Martha questioned.

"It's a sequence of happy primes. Three seven nine." Stella replied.

"Happy what?" Martha asked.

"Just enter it." The Doctor said.

"Are you sure? We only get one chance." Riley told them.

"Any number that reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one is a happy number." The Doctor explained in frustration. "Any number that doesn't, isn't a happy prime is a number that is both happy and prime. Now type it in!"

"I don't know, talk about dumbing down! Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?" Stella questioned shaking her head.

"We're through!" Martha said in excitement.

"Shocker." Stella mumbled wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Keep moving, fast as you can." The Doctor ordered looking at Stella in concern. "And, Martha, be careful, there may be something else on board this ship."

"Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free." Martha said sarcastically.

"Will do, thanks." The Doctor replied then looked to Stella. "How are you doing?"

"I'll be fine." Stella replied waving him off.

"It's getting pretty hot." The Doctor commented, her cybertronic half in mind and thinking back to the Platform.

"I can handle a little heat." Stella said looking to the Doctor trying to look reassuring, but if truth be told she was starting to feel weak. Too much heat and her systems would shut down and if she was left in the heat…total systems crash.

'Impact in thirty fifty.'

-0-

They all worked hard on the engine, but were getting nowhere it seemed. Stella let out a frustrated sigh as she tossed aside another useless piece of equipment.

"We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time." Stella said wiping her hands off on a rag.

"Come on, think." The Doctor said trying to think. "Resources. What have we got?"

"Doctor?" Martha called out.

"What is it now?" The Doctor asked impatiently.

"Who had the most number ones, Elvis or the Beatles. That's pre-download." Martha said.

"Elvis." The Doctor said then corrected himself. "No! The Beatles! No! Wait! Er, er. Oh, what was that remix? Stella?"

"Er, I don't know." Stella replied feeling agitated with the heat getting to her. She couldn't think about the engine and popular pop culture at the same time in this condition. "We're a bit busy."

"Fine. I'll ask someone else." Martha replied.

"Now, where was I? Here comes the sun. No, resources. So, the power's still working, the generator's going. If we can harness that. Ah!" The Doctor realized looking to Stella.

"Use the generator to jump-start the ship." Stella realized with a large smile.

"Exactly. At the very least, it'll buy us some more time." The Doctor nodded.

"That is brilliant." McDonnell said.

"I know. See?" The Doctor smiled. "Tiny glimmer of hope."

"If it works." Scannell said.

"Oh, believe me. You're going to make it work." McDonnell said sternly and Scannell got to work.

"That told him." The Doctor said with a smirk.

'Impact in twenty nine forty six.'

-0-

"Doctor, these readings are starting to scare me." Abi said over the comm.

"What do you mean?" The Doctor asked.

"Well, Korwin's body's changing. His whole biological make-up. It's impossible." Abi replied then there was a noise. "This is Med-centre. Urgent assistance requested. Urgent assistance!"

"Stay here!" The Doctor ordered Scannell.

"And keep working!" Stella ordered as they ran out, and McDonnell following them.

"Urgent assistance!" Abi called out making the Doctor and Stella shared a worried look before doubling their speed to the med bay.

"Abi, they're on their way." Erina said over the comm.

"Captain?" Scannell called out making them stop.

"I told you to stay in Engineering." The Doctor told him.

"I only take orders from one person round here." Scannell replied.

"Oh, is he always this cheery?" The Doctor asked sarcastically as Abi's scream comes over the intercom.

"Doctor, Stella, what were those screams?" Martha asked over the comm.

"Concentrate on those doors. You've got to keep moving forward." Stella replied as they all ran for the med bay.

'Impact in twenty seven oh six.'

-0-

Stella the Doctor, McDonnell and Scannell run into the med- bay to find it seemingly empty.

"Korwin's gone." McDonnell said.

"Oh, my God." Scannell said upon seeing the image of a figure is burnt onto the metal x-ray shield. "Tell me that's not Lerner."

"Endothermic vaporization. I've never seen one this ferocious." The Doctor said looking over the burn.

"Burn with me." Stella said thoughtfully.

"That's what we heard Korwin say." Scannell said.

"What? Do you think? No way. Scannell, tell him. Korwin is not a killer. He can't vaporize people. He's human!" McDonnell argued not liking the implement.

"His bioscan results." Stella said grabbing the results from nearby. "Doctor, you need to see this."

"Internal temperature, one hundred degrees! Body oxygen replaced by hydrogen." The Doctor read off.

"Your husband hasn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed." Stella said looking to McDonnell.

"The test results are wrong." McDonnell snapped.

"But what is it, though?" The Doctor questioned.

"A parasite?" Stella offered. "A mutagenic virus?"

"Something that needs a host body, but how did it get inside him?" The Doctor asked.

"Stop talking like he's some kind of experiment." McDonnell snapped.

"I'm sorry McDonnell, but in order to solve this we need to know all the facts." Stella told her empathically.

"Where's the ship been? Have you made planet-fall recently? Docked with any other vessels? Any kind of external contact at all?" The Doctor questioned rapidly.

"What is this, an interrogation?" McDonnell asked getting angry.

"We've got to stop him before he kills again." Stella told her.

"We're just a cargo ship." McDonnell said starting to break down.

"Doctor, Stella, if you give her a minute." Scannell said looking to the shaken woman.

"I'm fine. I need to warn the crew." McDonnell went over to the comm. "Everybody, listen to me. Something has infected Korwin. We think he killed Abi Lerner. None of you must go anywhere near him, is that clear?"

"Understood, Captain." Ashton replied.

"Is the infection permanent? Can you cure him?" McDonnell asked them.

"I don't know." The Doctor said as Stella looked away.

"Don't lie to me. Eleven years we've been married. We chose this ship together. He keeps me honest, so I don't want false hope." McDonnell said evenly.

"The parasite's too aggressive. Your husband's gone. There's no way back." Stella said looking McDonnell in the eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you." McDonnell nodded.

"Are you certain nothing happened to provoke this? Nobody's working on anything secret? Because it's vital that you tell me." The Doctor urged.

"I know every inch of this ship. I know every detail of my crew's lives. There is nothing." McDonnell replied.

"Then why is this thing so interested in you?" Stella questioned.

"I wish I knew." McDonnell replied.

"Doctor, we're through to area seventeen." Martha called out.

"Keep going." The Doctor said. "You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines."

-0-

The Doctor and Stella returned to the engine room where they got back to work along with McDonnell and Scanell. Stella was tightening a bolt when her shaking hand slipped causing her to stub her knuckles against a gear.

"Ah!" Stella snapped gripping her hand.

"Stella! What happened?" The Doctor rushed over to her taking her hand and noticing how much it was shaking. Normally an accident like this would not even faze her, but the heat was making her more susceptible to injury, even little ones.

"I just slipped." Stella replied taking her hand back. "I'm fine."

"Stella…" The Doctor started sternly, but was cut off.

"Doctor! Stella! We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock." Martha called out desperately through the comm. "One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've got to help us! Tell me you can stop it."

"Why is this happening?" McDonnell asked.

"Stay here. I mean it this time! Jump start those engines!" The Doctor ordered as he and Stella ran toward the pod and found Ashton with a welders mask on trying to jettison the pod.

"That's enough! What do you want? Why this ship? Tell me." The Doctor ordered. Ashton slammed his fist through the keypad.

'Jettison activated.'

"No." Stella yelled as Ashton approached.

"Come on. Let's see you. I want to know what you really are." The Doctor snarled as Stella used the opportunity to duck past Ashton and get over to the remains of the control panel. Ashton stood nose to nose with the Doctor and raised his hand to the visor then doubled over in pain.

'Airlock sealed.'

"No no no no no no no!" Stella chanted as she tried to re-make the pad using the wires and electrical bursts as the key pad ignoring the throbbing of her hand. Ashton straightened up walked toward then past the Doctor, back down the ship without so much as a backwards glance.

"McDonnell? Ashton's heading in your direction." The Doctor said into the comm. "He's been infected, just like Korwin!"

"Korwin's dead, Doctor." Scannell said.

"So will Martha and Riley if we don't do something, I can't repair this." Stella snapped.

'Airlock decompression completed. Jettisoning pod.'

"Oh dear lord." Stella breathed out in panic as the Doctor went to the window in the airlock door.

"I'll save you!" The Doctor yelled through the window. "I'll save you! I'll save you!"

"Scannell! I need a spacesuit in area seventeen now!" Stella called out into the comm.

"What for?" Scannell questioned.

"Don't waste time questioning me just get down here!" Stella snapped.

"Stella you can't go out there." The Doctor said guessing her plan.

"Watch me." Stella replied.

"It's too hot for you, you're already having a hard time breathing and just getting around, don't think I haven't noticed. That wound on your knuckles shouldn't even have been able to happen, you're getting weak." The Doctor told her as he grabbed her upper arms. "You weren't meant for this much heat, anymore and you could overheat and…."

"Then what are we going to do?" Stella cut him off sharply. She knew that overheating could mean a total shutdown of her systems which could kill her, but Martha was her friend and she needed her.

-0-

The Doctor was now in the spacesuit Scanell had brought to them finishing strapping it on with Stella's reluctant help. She had tried to talk him into letting her go, but he was a stubborn one.

"I can't let you do this." Scannell said.

"You're wasting your breath, Scannell." Stella scoffed sending the Doctor a look.

"You're not going to stop me." The Doctor said.

"You want to open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun. No one can survive that." Scannell argued.

"Oh, just you watch." The Doctor said.

"You open that airlock, it's suicide. This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you." Scannell said.

"If I can boost the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should re-magnetize the pod. Now, while I'm out there, you have got to get the rest of those doors open. We need those auxiliary engines." The Doctor told Scannell.

"Doctor, will you listen! They're too far away. It's too late." Scannell said.

"I'm not going to lose her." The Doctor told him as he put on the helmet.

"Do something or are you just going to let him get killed." Scannell snapped at Stella. Stella walked over to the Doctor putting her hands on either side of the helmet and kissing the front.

"Bring her back and yourself to." Stella looked into his eyes as she leaned her forehead against his.

"I will." He nodded puling her into a hug before going into the airlock.

'Decompression initiated. Impact in twelve fifty five.'

"I can't believe you let him go." Scannell looked at Stella. "He's going to die."

"No he's not." Stella said and then glared at him. "Now he gave you a job Scannell, I suggest you get to it." Scannell hesitated. "That was an order not a suggestion, move it!"

Scannell sent her one last look before he left and Stella walked over to the window watching intently.

'Impact in eleven fifteen. Heat shield failing. At ten percent.'

The Doctor opened the outer airlock door and the unfiltered sunlight streams in. Gritting his teeth, he climbed outside and reached for a row of four buttons on the ship's hull. He had to hold on to the edge of the airlock because there was no safety line.

"Come on!" Stella breathed, her hands clasped.

He pressed two buttons then stretched for the box just beyond them.

"Doctor, how're you doing?" Stella called into the comm.

"I can't, I can't reach! I don't know how much longer I can last." The Doctor breathed out.

"Come on. Don't give up now." Stella urged him. "You can do this! You can save them! You will save them!" He ripped off the cover of the box as he listened to Stella's encouragement, and with a big shout pulled the lever down. The Doctor clambered back into the airlock as the escape pod returned to its dock. "You did it! I told you, now get in here before you get squashed, ok? Doctor?" Stella got no response. "Doctor?! Doctor what's wrong? Doctor!?"

He was staring at the sun and she could his breathing hitch.

"It's alive. It's alive. It's alive!" The Doctor said. Stella felt her mouth drop, but quickly shook it off.

"Doctor, close the airlock now!" Stella called into the room banging on the door. "That pod's going to smash into you, come on."

'Impact in eight fifty seven.'

The Doctor stumblingly made for the exit and Stella knew that something had gone horribly wrong.

'Airlock recompression completed.'

The Doctor had his eyes closed tight as he crawled out of the airlock. Stella took hold of him helping him to sit against a wall as the pod docked helping him take off his helmet.

"That was brilliant, you…" Stella felt her blood drain form her face as she felt the heat from his face as she placed her hands on either side of his face. The Doctor reached up gripping her hands in his, holding them to his face as he struggled to breathe. "Doctor! Are you okay? Please talk to me."

"What's wrong?" Martha questioned as she ran in with Riley. The Doctor opened his eyes briefly and a white light shone from them.

"Stay away from me!" The Doctor cried out pushing Stella away as McDonnell came in.

"What's happened?" McDonnel questioned looking from where Stella was crouched in front of the Doctor, but not touching him though it looked like she wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold him close.

"It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!" The Doctor yelled.

"Riley, get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors. Go!" McDonnell ordered Riley who ran off uncertainly.

"You mined that sun. Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!" The Doctor writhed.

"I don't understand." McDonnell said in confusion.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Martha asked.

"That sun is alive. A living organism. They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!" The Doctor ground out in pain.

"What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why is he saying that?" McDonnell asked.

"Because it's living in me." The Doctor snarled.

"Oh, my God." McDonnell breathed out.

"Humans! You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! You should have scanned!" The Doctor cried out.

"It takes too long. We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal." McDonnell defended herself.

"Oh and that makes it all better." Stella snapped as she walked over to the Doctor grabbing his arm pulling it around her shoulders and pulling him to his feet.

"You've got to freeze me, quickly." The Doctor said urgently.

"I know." Stella said grimly.

"What?" Martha asked as she followed Stella who was helping the Doctor to the med bay.

"Stasis chamber. You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me! It'll use me to kill you if you don't. The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets! Med-centre, quickly! Quickly!" The Doctor said writhing in pain.

"We're almost there, just hold on." Stella told him tightening her hold on him.

'Impact in seven thirty.'

As soon as they made it to the med bay Martha grabbed the instruction manual as Stella placed the Doctor on the bed.

"I can do it!" Martha said.

"Stella." The Doctor whimpered making Stella's heart drop.

"I'm right here, I've got you." Stella said gripping his hand. "Martha's going to have this all set up in no time."

"Martha, where are you?" The Doctor called out.

"It's all right, I'm here." Martha reassured him. "Stasis chamber, minus two hundred, yeah?"

"No, you don't know how this equipment works. You'll kill him. Nobody can survive those temperatures." McDonnell argued.

"He's not human. If he says he can survive, then he can." Martha said sounding more sure than she looked.

"Let me help you, then." McDonnell said.

"You've done enough damage." Martha snapped as the Doctor lay in the stasis chamber.

"Please, just stay back." Stella told her not able to tear her eyes from the Doctor.

"Ten seconds. That's all I'll be able to take. No more." The Doctor said then shuttered violently. "Martha! Stella!"

"Yeah?" Martha said.

"It's burning me up. I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you. I could kill you all." The Doctor snarled then his face dissolved into fear. "Stella, I'm scared! I'm so scared!"

"You're going to be fine, I promise." Stella said gently stroking his head.

"Just stay calm. You saved me, now I return the favor. Just believe in me." Martha said getting ready.

"It's burning through me. Then what'll happen?" The Doctor ground out.

"That's enough!" Stella snapped "Martha and me, we've got you."

"There's this process, this thing that happens if I'm about to die…" The Doctor tried.

"Shush. Quiet now. Because that is not going to happen." Stella told him sternly.

"Are you ready?" Martha asked.

"No." The Doctor replied gripping Stella tighter.

"Me neither." Stella said gently taking his hand and kissing the back of it before letting go.

"Nor me." Martha said as she used the joystick to roll the Doctor completely into the chamber, then typed 200 into the keypad and pressed the green button. The Doctor screamed as his body temperature fell, Stella wrapping her arms around herself as tears gathered in her eyes.

'Heat shields failing. At five percent.'

The process was taking effect, but then the power was suddenly cut at minus 70 degrees.

"No! Martha, Stella, you can't stop it. Not yet." The Doctor called out.

"What happened?" Martha questioned.

"Power's been cut in Engineering." McDonnell replied.

"But who's down there?" Stella asked.

"Leave it to me." McDonnell left.

'Impact in four forty seven.'

"Come on. You're defrosting." Martha urged, the ice having gone from the Doctor's body.

"Stella, Martha, listen! I've only got a moment. You've got to go!" The Doctor told them.

"No way." Stella shook her head.

"Get to the front. Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them." The Doctor ordered.

"We are not leaving you." Martha told him.

"You've got to give back what they took." The Doctor told them.

"Doctor!" Martha said.

"Please go!" The Doctor begged.

"I'll be back for you." Martha said then noticed Stella not moving. "Stella?"

"Go, I have an idea, but it could be dangerous for you if you're here." Stella said as the lines along her body began to pulse. Martha nodded hesitantly as she left.

'Impact in four oh eight.'

"I might not be able to freeze you completely, but I can slow you down." Stella pulled the bed back down where the Doctor was laying.

"Stella, you've got to go." The Doctor urged. "I can't fight it. Give it back or burn with me. Burn with me, Stella."

"No, you freeze with me." Stella said as she caught he Doctor's lips kissing him hard using her coolant systems, breathing frost into him as she did fighting back the heat, the Doctor wrapping his arms around her holding her close pulling her onto the medical bed.

Stella struggled against the pain of the sun that tried to get into her, pushing herself harder to keep it at bay while emergency notices flashed before her eyes and in her head, her systems were starting to overheat and were being pushed too hard. Her hands fisted tightly into his suit as she forced away the thoughts of pain and kept on pouring out the frost. She was starting to get light headed and could feel the power of the sun coming closer to entering her.

Just when she thought the sun would overpower her, the ship jolted and the kiss broke with the jolt. The Doctor went stiff, the light went out in the his wide eyes then he fell back still hold Stella both of them breathing hard in exhaustion, her head resting on his chest. The Doctor was unconsciously holding her close and her hands were still fisted into his suit.

"Stella, you did it." The Doctor said as he starred down at her and she up at him, both of them still in each other's arms and her straddling him. Stella watched as his eyes slipped down to her lips and couldn't help it as hers darted down to his both of them remembering the kiss, the feeling despite the desperation of the situation was….realizing that they were just staring at other they quickly looked away both of them red. "Thank you."

"I only slowed it down." Stella replied getting off the bed holding onto the edge. "Martha is the one who gave the sun its heart back."

"We should go find her." The Doctor said getting off the bed as well both of them exchanging glances as they moved out of the room.

"Doctor! Stella!" Martha called out as she ran down the hall to them hugging the Doctor and Stella.

-0-

"This is never your ship." Scannell said as they all gathered around the TARDIS.

"Compact, eh? And another good word, robust. Barely a scorch mark on her." The Doctor smiled proudly.

"Don't forget beautiful." Stella said with a tight smile, struggling to ignore the weakness in her limbs and the hollow feeling in her stomach.

"Wouldn't dream of it." The Doctor smiled back noticing the light sheen of sweat on her forehead covering her paler than usual skin tone.

"We can't just leave you drifting with no fuel." Martha said.

"We've sent out an official mayday. The authorities'll pick us up soon enough." Riley reassured her.

"Though how we explain what happened." Scannell trailed off shaking his head.

"Just tell them. That sun needs care and protection just like any other living thing." The Doctor told him then goes into the TARDIS.

"You two, be good." Stella said as she pushed off from where she had been leaning against the TARDIS her hands clutched at her sides as she walked.

"You as well, and keep an eye on that man of yours." Scannell said making Stella's face erupt. "He's a bit too much of a risk taker for his own good."

"You have no idea." Stella shook her head and then went into the TARDIS.

"So, er, you're off then. No chance I'll see you again?" Riley asked.

"Not really. It was nice, not dying with you. I reckon you'll find someone worth believing in." Martha said.

"I think I already did." Riley said looking into her eyes, then suddenly. Martha pulled Riley into a heated kiss.

"Well done." Martha said as they separated. "Very hot."

Martha went into the TARDIS closing the door behind her as she walked up to the console.

"So. Didn't really need you in the end, did we?" Martha joked then regretted her words when the Doctor made no comment. "Sorry. How are you doing?"

"Now, what do you say? Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Fancy it?" The Doctor asked.

"Whatever you like." Martha said miffed at his lack of openness.

"By the way, you'll be needing this." He said handing Martha a TARDIS key on a chain and giving one to Stella as well who took it with a nod and a tight smile that worried the Doctor.

"Really?" Martha said taking the key.

"Frequent flier's privilege. Thank you." The Doctor said sincerely to them both, but then suddenly Martha seemed to realize something.

"Oh, no. Mum." Martha yelped dialing into her phone as quickly as possible and started to talk to her mom on her phone. The Doctor looked at Stella who was breathing rather hard and looked pale for a short time before approaching her.

"Stella, are you ok?" The Doctor asked her in concern.

"Fine, just cooling off." Stella waved him off. "Ice skating sounds like a lot of fun, specially the ice part."

"Stella…" The Doctor started.

"See you later. Love you." Martha said before the Doctor could question her more. "I love my mum, but sometimes she drives me a bit crazy."

Stella's hearing went wonky as the voices of the Doctor and Martha seemed to mix together into a low hum. Suddenly a wave of dizziness hit Stella hard making her tighten her hold on the TARDIS console trying to not show how bad she felt inside. The extreme heat and taking on the sun in the Doctor had caused more damage than she wanted to let on; the sweat was still shimmering all over her body and her temperature was higher than normal. The worse was the weakness and shaking in her limbs, like nothing she had ever felt before. She needed to get out of there before the Doctor or Martha noticed. She let go of the TARDIS and took one step only for the ground to shift hard under her feet causing her to fall to the ground hard.

"Stella!" The Doctor gasped as he ran over to her followed by Martha in doctor mode.

"Her heart is racing and she's burning up." Martha said feeling her heart rate then moving to her forehead as the Doctor propped her up.

"It's the sun, she used her coolant systems to freeze me she left herself vulnerable. She can't handle too much heat then she went and did that, I should have known, I should have stopped her." The Doctor said as he picked her up. "We need to cool her down." The Doctor quickly shot down the hallway. "I'm so sorry Stella."

"This is not…this is not your fault." Stella grimaced as a wave of pain went through her and she gripped his lapels. "I wanted to…do this, I couldn't let them die… I couldn't let Martha die…" She looked him in the eyes. "… I couldn't let you die, I had to do it, we needed the extra time."

Stella then passed out her head falling to the Doctors shoulder who tightened his arms around her. Her systems were going into sleep mode in order to help her systems cool, shutting down the ones that were not necessary. Finally they came to a door at the end of the hall with a light blinking above it.

"Open the door quick." The Doctor ordered and Martha did so revealing a large tub filled with a blue mint smelling liquid. "Perfect."

"What is that stuff?" Martha asked.

"A type of coolant gel." The Doctor sat her down and without a thought stripped her down to her undergarments then slipped her into the tub and she let out a small sigh of relief.

"It's freezing in here." Martha said as she wrapped her arms around herself, her breaths coming out in puffs.

"You better get out Martha, the TARDIS is regulating the room to an extremely cold temperature that no human can survive in it for long." The Doctor said.

"What about you?" Martha asked reluctant to leave.

"Well I'm not human am I?" The Doctor said with a weak smile. "Now go before you turn into a Popsicle."

"Right, keep me informed though." Martha said in concern.

"I will." The Doctor said as she walked out closing the door behind her.

The Doctor turned back to Stella who still had her eyes closed and noticed with relief that her breathing had evened out. The Doctor reached out and gently moved piece of hair from her face then felt her forehead which had already started to cool down.

As he sat with her waiting for her to wake up Martha had dropped off an electric blanket she had found, but had to leave soon after due to the cold temperature. He wrapped the blanket tightly around himself and turned it on. He might be able to stand the cold longer than a human, but it did still affect him in the long run.

The Doctor reached out and stroked her head tracing one of the thin lines that made up her tattoo like features indicating her to be a cyborg. Already her body was cool enough to allow her systems to reboot causing Stella's eyes flutter open revealing their glowing icy blue color. She looked around the room in confusion until her eyes fell on the Doctor who sat next to the tub wrapped in his blanket.

"How are you feeling?" The Doctor asked still stroking her head allowing his fingers to drift into her hair.

"Fried." Stella replied sitting up a little straighter in the tub then noticed her state of dress or lack thereof. "Oi! Where are my clothes?"

"I had to take them off so you could cool down faster." The Doctor explained, his face going red.

"Then why didn't you let Martha do it?" Stella said sinking down into the water and covering her chest.

"I was panicked, I thought you were dying." The Doctor defended himself causing Stella's face to soften.

"Sorry, just wasn't expecting it." Stella replied apologetically. "So am I free to go or do I need to soak some more?"

"Let me check." The Doctor replied waving his sonic over her. "You seem to be healing nicely since we cooled you down."

"Well that's a relief." Stella said with a sigh. "Mind handing me a robe or something?"

"Oh sure." The Doctor replied grabbing dark blue robe that the Tardis provided handing it to her. She stepped out of the coolant sitting on the edge of the tub as she pulled on the robe securing it in front.

"Thank you, by the way, for saving my life." The Doctor said as he sat back down and took her hand in his.

"I'd say no problem except the extreme internal heat stroke begs to differ, but I don't regret it for a second." Stella said as she looked down at their hands. "It was worth it, you are one heck of a kisser."

"You're not bad yourself." He replied returning her cheeky smile.

"We should do it again sometime when we're not in a near death situation." Stella said jokingly as she looked up at him.

"Maybe we should." The Doctor replied seriously meeting her eyes and everything seemed to stop for moment as they starred at each other until there was a knock on the door.

"Doctor? Is Stella awake yet?" Martha called through the door.

"Yep, she's going to be fine." The Doctor called out as he helped Stella stand up, her legs still a little shaky.

"I'm coming out now." Stella said clinging to the Doctor's arm as he led her to the door and opened it only to be almost knocked to the ground by Martha's hug.

"Oh thank goodness." Martha said with a cheer hugging her tight.

"Yeah, I'm pretty happy about this as well." Stella replied laughing as she returned the hug.

"Do you need anything?" Martha asked.

"I am starving." Stella replied patting her stomach. "And some dry clothes would be nice."

"Right this way then." The Doctor said as he took hold of each of their hands and dragged them down the hallway.

-0-

After they ate Stella made her way back to her room intent on doing some repairs on her systems. The heat had done more damage than she let on and she could feel a few systems being impeded. She shut the door and walked over to where an ataman had been set up between two mirrors along with few different high tech tools laid out on a small table next to the ataman.

She sat cross-legged on the ataman talking off her shirt and pulling on a low back string tank top leaving her back bare. She picked up one of the tools that looked like a tooth cleaning device except it had a blue light at the end. She took a breath as she twisted about trying to reach her back with no success making her let out a frustrated growl. It had been a long time since she had to do this on her own.

"Come in." Stella called out when a knock sounded on her door.

"Hey, starting to get worried when you didn't come back to the console room." The Doctor said as he popped in, and then saw what she was doing. "Are you ok?"

"No, I need to make some recalibrations to my systems, but I can't reach." Stella said with an annoyed sigh. "I haven't had to do this on my own in a long time."

"Mind if I take a look?" The Doctor asked as strolled forward.

"Be my guest." Stella replied gesturing to the tools.

"I'll stick with my trusty sonic, thanks." The Doctor sat on the ataman behind Stella pulling out his sonic running it over her back.

Compartments in her pack spread apart revealing her inner workings. The Doctor let out a low appreciative whistle at the intricate work that was displayed before him.

"Down boy." Stella joked.

"Sorry." The Doctor cleared his throat with ab bit of a blush. "There's a lot of work here from all over the place."

"Yeah well I wasn't about to go back to the ones who made me so I had to get repaired where I could." Stella shrugged. "I think I have the amalgamation of about two hundred or more species working together to keep me going."

"Beautiful." The Doctor said in wonder as he worked.

"Flatterer." Stella winked at him over her shoulder making him grin. He worked in silence for a bit, both of them lost in their own thoughts when suddenly Stella jerked with a slight yelp.

"Oh, sorry." The Doctor apologized, then his brows furrowed. "You've been inhibited."

"Yeah, my weapons systems, I locked them away years ago." Stella waved him off.

"I see that, but there are some interesting things here that were also inhibited." The Doctor mumbled.

"Like?" Stella asked when suddenly holographic screens appeared before her, computer screens with all sorts of information on them. "I have wi-fi?"

"You didn't know?" The Doctor asked.

"Well when I got away from them I blocked all of their systems, I didn't know what any of them did so it was better safe than sorry." Stella shrugged. "What else can I do?"

"Uh…well…technological interface capabilities and you seem to the ability to produce holographic objects." The Doctor told her and Stella held up her hands looking at her finger tips which glowed.

"How do I make it work?" Stella asked.

"Just think of what you want." The Doctor replied as he closed her back up, the repairs complete. Stella smiled as she formed a light blue violin and bow in her hands. "Why am not surprised."

"What?" Stella grinned as she placed the violin on her shoulder and slid the bow across the strings, the sounds of the violin filling the room.

She chose the lively tune 'He's a pirate' from Pirates of the Caribbean. She smiled brightly as she stood to her feet spinning around with the theme as the Doctor watched with an amused smile. She really was brilliant, the way she moved and danced with the rhythm. She finished with a flourish and a large grin, the violin disbursing.

"Brilliant." The Doctor clapped.

"Thanks, I wish I knew I could do this before." Stella said as she plopped back down next to the Doctor. "Would have been a lot easier on the luggage."

"I'll bet." The Doctor laughed a bit. "But seriously Stella, with your talent why aren't you in some sort of music hall or something?"

"Well as fun as that sounds…" Stella scoffed. "Staying in one place seemed so…confining to me." Stella fell back on the ataman starring up at the ceiling. "There's a great big universe out there and I wanted to see it all."

"I can understand that." The Doctor said as he flopped down beside her, looking to ceiling as well to find the constellations blinking above them as they talked about whatever popped into their heads, just enjoying each other's company as the night wore on.

The Doctor noticed that Stella had gone silent and looked over to her only to find her sound asleep. He slowly rolled over onto his side reaching tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, his fingertips lingering against her cheek tracing along the blue opal line that ran the length of the jawline. His eyes fell to her lips recalling the kiss that she had used to save him, the way her soft lips had been pressed desperately to his, and barely caught himself centimeters from her lips.

With a sigh he sat up then stood stretching as he did so before turning back to Stella picking her up in his arms. She nuzzled herself against his chest causing him to smile down at her, a warm feeling he had not felt for quite a long time spreading throughout his body. He moved over to her bed gently laying her down then covering her up.

"Night Stella." The Doctor whispered pressing a kiss to her forehead before leaving the room, the Tardis turning off the lights as soon as he was out of the room.

-0-

The Doctor rushed in seeing Stella sitting up straight up in bed, her eyes wide starring off at nothing and her breath shallow. Tears stained her cheeks and there was a sheen of sweat breaking out over her forehead. The Doctor carefully walked over to her taking note of the death grip she had on the sheets, fists that were shaking hard.

"Stella." He called out softly, but she made no indication that she hear him, her gaze remaining fixed on the far wall, not that that was what she was seeing. The Doctor slowly set on the edge of her bed facing her as he took her hands untangling them from the sheets.

He was about to call out to her again, but a scream suddenly ripped itself from her throat. It was blood curdling piercing him straight to the bone until they dissolved into hysterical crying that wracked her whole body. The Doctor reached out taking her face in his hands forcing her to look at him, her wide terrified eyes meeting his, but they were fevered and wild.

"Stella, it's ok." The Doctor said as he brought her into a hug, Stella clinging to him as she slowly calmed down. He rubbed her back in soothing circles rocking her back and forth until she gently pushed against him. He loosened his hold on her, giving her some space as she ran a hand through her hair taking in some deep calming breaths.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." Stella said softly giving him a nod of thanks when he handed her a handkerchief from his pocket.

"Nah, I was working on the Tardis, you didn't wake me up." The Doctor looked her in concern. "Stella, are you ok?"

"Of course." Stella waved him off, trying to act like she wasn't bothered.

"Stella, you can talk to me." The Doctor said taking hold of her hands in his again. Stella glanced up at him then back down to their joined hands.

"It wasn't a nightmare, it was a memory." Stella said softly. "It's not something want to hear."

"I do." The Doctor replied causing her gaze to shoot back up.

"Are you sure? It's…" Stella sighed shaking her head. The Doctor gently tilted her head back up, curling his finger under her chin.

One look into his eyes and she told him, told him about the nightmares that had plagued her whole life, but she wasn't the only one that bared their heart that night. Stella had somehow gotten the Doctor to talk about things he had never told another. The rest of the night went from horror to sharing moments of their pasts, happy times that made the nightmares worth bearing.

=-0-=

 _ **I wanted to thank Alibird1 for the cool ideas for Stella's cyborg abilities, they were extremely helpful as well as inspiring. If anyone has anyone else had any ideas that like to shoot my way I'd love to hear them.**_


	12. Chapter 12

When the Doctor had decided to surprise Stella and Martha with a trip in order to cheer up Stella after her nightmare this was not how he thought it would end. They were all currently running for their lives into the Tardis, closely followed by blasts from an energy weapons.

"Get down!" Stella snapped as the Doctor slams the door shut.

"Did they see you?" The Doctor demanded of Martha.

"I don't know." Martha said shaking her head.

"But did they see you?" The Doctor asked again

"I don't know. I was too busy running." Martha snapped.

"Martha, it's important. Did they see your face?" The Doctor said urgently.

"No, they couldn't have." Martha said.

"Good, Stella?" The Doctor called out.

"No, they didn't see me either." Stella shook her head as the Doctor darted up to the console.

"Off we go!" The Doctor sets the Tardis into motion. "Argh! They're following us."

"How can they do that? You've got a time machine." Martha asked.

"Stolen technology. They've got a Time Agent's vortex manipulator." The Doctor said twisting some nobs flying the Tardis away. "They can follow us wherever we go, right across the universe. They're never going to stop, unless." The Doctor said turning to Stella and Martha looking less than happy, but desperate. "I'll have to do it."

"Do what?" Stella asked.

"You two trust me, don't you?" The Doctor asked.

"Of course I do." Martha said with a nod.

"Without a doubt." Stella nodded.

"Good, because it all depends on you." The Doctor said looking to Martha.

"What does?" Martha asked.

"And Stella, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to do this with me as well, they'd be able to detect your technology, you'd be spotted in a moment." The Doctor said looking to Stella who nodded, even though she was unsure as to what she was going to be doing.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Martha asked as he held out an ornately decorated pocket watch.

"Take this watch, because our lives depend on it, this watch, Martha. This watch is…"

-0-

The Doctor jerked awake lying on a bed in an old-fashioned wood paneled room with a clock is ticking in the back ground and voices in the corridor outside. The room is a combination of a bedroom, office, and sitting room of sorts with papers and books piled everywhere. He slowly gets up, the event of his dream playing in his head just as there is a knock on the door.

"Come in." The Doctor called out and Martha enters, carrying a breakfast tray and wearing maid's uniform complete with little cap. She turns her back when she sees he isn't fully dressed.

"Pardon me, Mister Smith. You're not dressed yet. I can come back later." Martha said and started to walk back out.

"No, it's all right, it's all right. Put it down." The Doctor said as he stood up and pulled on his dressing gown. "I was…er…sorry…sorry…sometimes I have these extraordinary dreams."

"What about, sir?" Martha asked placing the tray down on a table by the leather settee and draws the curtains.

"I dream I'm this adventurer. This daredevil, a madman. The Doctor, I'm called." The Doctor said recalling the dream. "And last night I dreamt that you were there, as my companion and another woman was there as well, but I never seem to be able to see her face."

"A teacher and a housemaid, sir?" Martha shook her head. "That's impossible."

"I'm a man from another world, though…" The Doctor went on.

"Well it can't be true because there's no such thing." Martha said turning to face him once again.

"This thing. The watch is…" The Doctor said as he picked up the ornate pocket watch from the mantelpiece for a moment as Martha watches him with baited breath then puts it back. "Ah, it's funny how dreams slip away. But I do remember one thing; it all took place in the future. In the Year of Our Lord two thousand and seven."

"I can prove that wrong for you, sir. Here's the morning paper." Martha said picking up a paper and handing it to him. "It's Monday, November tenth, nineteen thirteen, and you're completely human, sir. As human as they come."

"Mmm, that's me. Completely human." The Doctor said with a smile.

-0-

Stella was laid out on a white medical bed in a white room surrounded by metallic lizard men. She felt her breathing elevate as she tried desperately to move, to get away, but her body would not respond. She could feel tears streaming down from her eyes in her despair.

"The nano's have taken care of her inner workings, now all that is left is the enhancements." A red lizard said.

"We will start with the arms, remove them and attach the cybernentic arms." The blue lizard man ordered.

Stella's eye nearly bugged out of her head as she watched the purple lizard bring up a blue lazer cutter and start to slice into her arm, and although she couldn't feel it, she could see it. She was forced to watch as they took off her arms all the while screaming inside while they attached the new arms.

Stella gasped as she woke up starring straight up at the ceiling of her room. She had had the dream again, the horrible dream of her body slowly being replaced with strange technology the likes she had never seen before. She also sometimes dreamed of other beings, also being taken apart and patch worked together again, how they would try to come together, to keep one another sane, but those were all nightmares, not dreams like the ones she had of the blue box and the Doctor.

She moved her long wavy hair in varying shades of brown back and laid her arm over her light blue eyes as the events played over and over in her head, tears streaming down her face. A knock on the door broke her out of her thoughts and she quickly wiped her face clean of tears.

"Matron, your breakfast is ready for you." The maid said through the door.

"Thank you Jenny, I'll be right there." Stella replied grabbing a green journal from her nightstand before pulling on her dressing gown, her skin completely smooth, free of the cybernetic lines, her ring glinting on her right hand index finger, and left her bedroom.

"Another dream ma'am." Jenny said softly as Stella took her seat, easily seeing through Stella's fake smile.

"Yes." Stella nodded as she wrote in the journal between bites.

"May I ask what it was about?" Jenny asked pouring the tea. Stella paused starring down at her journal.

"Not this time Jenny, it was…" Stella shook her head. "Sorry."

"That's alright ma'am." Jenny smiled then noticed the clock. "You might want to jump to it, it's getting late."

"Oh, you're right, thank you for breakfast Jenny." Stella said as she ran to her room to get dressed for her job.

Jenny shook her head with a small laugh then glanced down to where the journal lay open showing a picture of the lizard men that sent awful shivers down her back; they were strange creatures garbed in some sort of medical apparel and the way they looked at her from the pages was disturbing.

"No wonder she didn't want to talk about it." Jenny muttered to herself as she picked up the trey and left.

-0-

After class, the Doctor walks along a tiled corridor which the two housemaids, Martha and Jenny are scrubbing on their hands and knee.

"Morning, sir." Martha said looking up at him.

"Yes, hi." The Doctor said quickly as he went up the stairs.

"Head in the clouds, that one, almost as bad as the Matron." Jenny commented. "Don't know why you're so sweet on him."

"He's just kind to me, that's all." Martha shrugged. "Not everyone's that considerate, what with me being …"

"A Londoner?" Jenny finished for her with a smile.

"Exactly. Good old London town." Martha said as they shared a laugh.

"Er, now then, you two. You're not paid to have fun, are you? Put a little backbone into it." Baines, one of the older students said with a sneer.

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir." Jenny said as she got back to work.

"You there, what's your name again?" Hutchinson looked to Martha.

"Martha, sir. Martha Jones." Martha answered.

"Tell me then, Jones. With hands like those, how can you tell when something's clean?" Hutchinson jeered as he and his friend walked on, laughing.

"That's very funny, sir." Martha bit out.

"Careful, now. Don't answer back." Jenny cautioned her.

"I'd answer back with my bucket over his head." Martha replied.

"Oh, I wish. Just think, though." Jenny said shaking her head. "In a few years' time, boys like that'll be running the country."

"Nineteen thirteen. They might not." Martha said sadly.

-0-

"Excuse me, ma'am." A boy said as he rushed by Stella who was in a neat starched nurse's uniform and her hair in a loose bun with a few loose pieces framing her face. She continues on her way her mind preoccupied with the dreams that she had been having until she meets the Doctor, who is carrying a large pile of books.

"Oh, good morning, Mister Smith." Stella said almost bumping into him causing him to drop some of the books.

"There we go." The Doctor said looking down at the fallen books then back up at Stella. Instantly like always he finds himself tongue tied in her presence. It embarrassed him to no end that he could hardly form a coherent sentence around her.

"Let me help you." Stella offered with a smile feeling the butterflies in her stomach take wing.

"No, no, I've got it, no. Er, how best to retrieve?" The Doctor stuttered out. "Tell you what. If you could take these…"

Stella takes the books from his arms, and he picks up the fallen ones.

"Good?" Stella asked as she adjusted the load in her hands.

"No harm done." The Doctor said cheerfully. "So, er, how was Jenkins?"

"Oh just a cold." Stella replied. "Nothing serious. I think he's missing his mother more than anything."

"Oh, we can't have that." The Doctor said sympathetically.

"He received a letter this morning, so he's a lot more chipper." Stella said and then looked down to the books in her hands. "I appear to be holding your books."

"Yes, so you are. Sorry, sorry. Just let me." The Doctor tried to take them.

"No, why don't I take half?" Stella said allowing him to take half while she kept the remaining.

"Ah, brilliant idea. Brilliant. Perfect. Division of labor." The Doctor said with a large grin.

"We make quite a team." Stella said returning his grin.

"Don't we just." The Doctor replied starring into her eyes as he fell silent.

"So, these books. Were they being taken in any particular direction?" Stella prompted feeling nervous under his gaze.

"Yes." The Doctor looked around himself before choosing a direction. "This way." As they proceeded down the hall the Doctor struck up a conversation with the matron. "I always say, Matron, give the boys a good head of steam…" The Doctor talked as they continued down a smaller corridor. "…they'll soon wear themselves out."

"Truth be told, when it's just you and me, I'd much rather you call me Nurse Quill." Stella said looking down at the books in her hands with a blush. "Matron sounds rather well, matronly."

"Ah. Nurse Quill it is then." The Doctor stuttered out a bit.

"Though we've known each other all of two months, you could even say Astraia." Stella said looking up at him her cheeks flushed.

"Astraia?" The Doctor echoed.

"That's my name." Stella said.

"Well, obviously." The Doctor nodded, quickly looking for a way to save face. "Astraia, its Greek I believe, meaning starry one."

"That is right." Stella nodded with a small blush. "And it's John, isn't it?"

"Yes, yes, it is, yes." The Doctor replied as they made it to a landing.

"Have you seen this, John? The annual dance at the village hall tomorrow. It's nothing formal, but rather fun by all accounts. Do you think you'll go?" Stella said looking at the notice board at the top of a flight of stairs.

"I hadn't thought about it." The Doctor confessed.

"I've never been to a dance before, I would like to go, only no one's asked me." Stella said glancing at him as the Doctor starts backing away nervously.

"Well, I should imagine that you'd be, er,… I mean, I never thought you'd be one for…. I mean, there's no reason why you shouldn't. If you do, you may not. I, I probably won't, but even if I did then I couldn't. I mean I wouldn't want to…" The Doctor scrambled.

"The stairs." Stella said noticing how close he was getting.

"What about the stairs?" The Doctor asked still backing up.

"They're right behind you." Stella said dropping the books as she made a grab for him, but missed and down he went in a flurry of books and papers as Stella watched helplessly her hands covering her mouth in shock, before she raced down after him.

-0-

Stella got him back to his room and tended to the back of the Doctor's head as he sat squirming in his seat. He was sitting in a chair with his back to Stella as she gently took care of his wound, shaking her head fondly at his shenanigans.

"Stop it." Stella chided with a laugh. "I get boys causing less fuss than this."

"Because it hurts." The Doctor pouted just before Martha burst in.

"Is he all right?" Martha asked urgently.

"Martha your concern is sweet, but it's hardly good form to enter a man's study without knocking." Stella admonished her gently.

"Sorry. Right. Yeah." Martha went back to the door and knocks on it then came back. "But is he all right? They said you fell down the stairs, Sir."

"No, it was just a tumble, that's all." The Doctor waved her off.

"Have you checked for concussion?" Martha asked.

"I have and he's fine, nothing to worry about." Stella said with a nod.

"I'll just tidy your things." Martha said as she moved about the room.

"I was just telling Nurse Quill…Matron, about my dreams." The Doctor said, blushing at his informal addressing of Stella. "They are quite remarkable tales. I keep imagining that I'm someone else, and that I'm hiding."

"Hiding? In what way?" Stella asked in interest.

"They're almost every night." The Doctor said. "This is going to sound silly."

"Tell me." Stella said feeling a tugging of familiarity at the back of her head, she felt like she had to know.

"I dream, quite often, that I have two hearts." The Doctor told her.

"Well, then. I can be the judge of that. Let's find out." Stella said as she uses her stethoscope to listen to the Doctor's chest. For some reason she felt anticipation as she placed the stethoscope to either side of his chest, then disappointment for some reason when she found only one heart. "I can confirm the diagnosis, just one heart, singular."

"I have er, I have written down some of these dreams in the form of fiction. Not that it would be of any interest." The Doctor said holding his journal.

"I'd be very interested." Stella said with a smile.

"Well, I've never actually shown it to anyone before." The Doctor gave Stella the handwritten book.

"A Journal of Impossible Things." Stella read off before she opened the journal to reveal lots of inky scrawl and pictures. It was almost exactly like her own green journal leaving shocked and a deep feeling of vertigo, like someone had pulled the rug out from under her feet. "Just look at these creatures." Stella commented shaking of her woozy feeling as she looked at the picture of a Dalek. "Such…imagination."

"It's become quite a hobby." The Doctor said as Stella looked at the Moxx of Balhoon, Autons labelled as plastic men, one of the Pompadour clockwork robots. When she saw the Moxx of Balhoon she thought of the picture of the tree woman she had done, the one she had named Jabe.

"It's wonderful and quite an eye for the pretty girls." Stella teased as she looked at a picture of Rose Tyler. The sight of the girl made her heart twist, not with jealousy, but the feeling of loss, like she had known the girl.

"Oh no, no, she's just an invention. This character, Rose, I call her Rose, she seems to disappear later on." The Doctor said as Stella came across another girl that had long wavy hair and strange lines covered her body, but the face was blurred.

"Such strange markings, what is her name?" Stella asked her hand unintentionally wondering to her hands.

"Her name is Stella, she's part human and part machine. The Doctor seems to be quit taken with her, although he seems hesitant to say anything about it." The Doctor commented and Stella felt her heart skip as memories of her own dreams surfaced. Stella and the Doctor look up at each other for a brief moment their eyes connecting. Stella blushed and quickly looks back down at the journal looking at a picture of the Cybermen and the Tardis, labelled magic box, this was almost becoming too much, the similarities. "Ah, that's the box. The blue box. It's always there. Like a like a magic carpet. This funny little box that transports me to faraway places."

"Like a doorway." Stella said softly as her fingers gently brushed over the picture.

"Mmm." The Doctor hummed as they looked as sketches of earlier Doctors. Stella's eyes lingered on the man with the big ears, nose, and a buzz cut wearing a leather jacket, a small smile twitching on her lips and for some reason had a sudden craving for a banana. "I sometimes think how magical life would be if stories like this were true."

"If only." Stella agreed thinking over some of her better dreams of amazing civilizations, a handsome albeit troublesome friend name Jack, a large face named Boe who seemed very special to her, like a father, and such strange friends the likes she had never seen outside of her dreams.

"It's just a dream." The Doctor said as Stella looks to the drawing of the pocket watch, and can't help, but to feel that she's seen it before.

"Yes, just a dream." Stella mumbled softly to herself. "John, may I borrow your journal?"

"Borrow it?" The Doctor echoed raising an eyebrow, even Martha had paused in her cleaning starring worriedly out of the corner of her eye at them.

"It's very interesting and I'd like to read more of it, if that's ok?" Stella looked to the Doctor with a small smile and hopeful look in her eyes that melted the Doctor instantly.

"Well I don't see why not." The Doctor allowed and after a few more minutes of conversation Stella took her leave, Martha following.

-0-

Stella was flipping through the journal as she walked her eyes devouring the pages. Her heart gave a painful thud when she came across the Face of Boe making her quickly turn the page, she could never look at her own drawing of Boe for long without feeling like she was going to burst into tears. She was just looking over the page with the different men drawn on it when she heard someone running up behind her.

"Ma'am? That book." Martha called out as she ran after Stella.

"Hello Martha, don't worry I'll look after it." Stella said holding the book close to her chest. "He did say I could read it."

"But it's silly, that's all, just stories." Martha said, worrying that something in it might trigger Stella's memories.

"Who is he, Martha?" Stella asked feeling her eyes become distant as her mind chased after a fleeting memory.

"I'm sorry?" Martha questioned.

"It's like he's left the kettle on. Like he knows he has something to get back to, but he can't remember what." Stella said feeling the same thing at that very moment.

"That's just him." Martha replied with a shrug.

"You arrived with him, didn't you? Shortly after my own arrival. He found you employment here at the school, isn't that right?" Stella asked.

"I used to work for the family. He just sort of inherited me." Martha replied.

"Martha, I mean this in the best way I can that some people might notice your attachment to him and not take it to kindly. You sometimes seem a little too friendly with him and most would frown upon that. I just want you to stay safe from the bigotry of others." Stella said kindly. "Please do not take offense to this, I consider you my friend and do not want to see you hurt."

"Yes, ma'am, thank you." Martha nodded.

"Have a good day Martha." Stella smiled and Martha smiled back. She had been more than relieved when Stella had not treated her like other people had, she was still her friend, watching out for her. Martha watched Stella walk back down the hall toward her quarters, her hands gripped together.

-0-

It was a cold chilly night outside the tavern where Jenny and Martha were forced to sit due to convention.

"Ooo, it's freezing out here. Why can't we have a drink inside the pub?" Martha asked as she set two pints on the table in front of Jenny.

"Now don't be ridiculous. You do get these notions!" Jenny told her as Martha sat down. "It's all very well, those Suffragettes, but that's London. That's miles away."

"But don't you just want to scream sometimes, having to bow and scrape and behave. Don't you just want to tell them?" Martha questioned.

"I don't know. Things must be different in your country." Jenny commented.

"Yeah, well they are. Thank God I'm not staying." Martha said in relief.

"You keep saying that." Jenny said to her.

"Just you wait. One more month and I'm as free as the wind. I wish you could come with me, Jenny. You'd love it." Martha said.

"Where are you going to go?" Jenny asked.

"Anywhere. Just look up there." Martha gestured. "Imagine you could go all the way out to the stars."

"You don't half say mad things." Jenny laughed.

"That's where I'm going. Into the sky, all the way out." Martha went then spotted something flashing across the sky. "Did you see that?"

"See what?" Jenny asked looking up as well.

"Did you see it, though? Right up there, just for a second." Martha pointed up at the sky.

"Martha, there's nothing there." Jenny replied as Stella walked up to them.

"Good evening Martha, Jenny, how are you both?" Stella greeted them both with a smile.

"Just fine Matron." Jenny replied with a bright smile.

Stella had always been good to her treating her like an equal instead of just the help. They would have conversations and Stella even taught her how to read, even going so far to allow her to borrow from her library whenever she wanted. Stella was a firm believer that everyone should have equal opportunities to learn so when Jenny expressed an interest in reading, expecting ridicule, she was more than surprised when Stella seriously offered to teach her.

"I told you both outside of the school you can call me Astraia." Stella said with a smile.

"Sorry Astraia. It's a beautiful night, don't you think?" Martha asked looking up at the sky.

"Yes quite beautiful." Stella nodded also gazing up the suddenly a nurse from the school ran up the road toward the. "Nurse Redfern, are you all right?"

"Did you see that? There was something in the woods. This light…" Redfern stuttered out as the Doctor arrived.

"Anything wrong, ladies? Far too cold to be standing around in the dark, don't you…" The Doctor started.

"There, there. Look in the sky." Redfern interrupted him pointing up at a light crossing the sky.

"Oh, that's beautiful." Stella breathed out.

"All gone." The Doctor said as the last of it disappeared. "Commonly known as a meteorite. It's just rocks falling to the ground, that's all."

"It came down in the woods." Redfern insisted.

"No, no, no. No, they always look close, when actually they're miles off. Nothing left but a cinder." The Doctor told them all. "Now, I should escort you back to the school. Ladies?"

"No, we're fine, thanks." Martha said for herself and Jenny.

"I was…I was just going in for a drink, no thank you." Redfern said casting one more look to the sky before hurrying into the pub.

"Matron Quill?" The Doctor offered his arm which she took with a blush.

"Thank you that would be quite nice." Stella nodded.

"Then I shall bid the rest of you goodnight." The Doctor nodded to the other before he and Stella left.

"Jenny, where was that? On the horizon, where the light was headed." Martha asked.

"That's by Cooper's Field." Jenny answered and Martha ran off, Jenny reluctantly chasing after her. "You can't just run off. It's dark. You'll break a leg."

But coming to the field they found nothing then headed home.

-0-

Martha bicycled out to an old barn parking outside she walked inside taking off her TARDIS key unlocking the TARDIS and walked inside.

"Hello." Martha said as she looked around then realized what she had done. "I'm talking to a machine." As she walked over to the console looking down at it she started to remember.

"Get down! They're following us." The Doctor called out. "They can follow us wherever we go. Right across the universe. They're never going to stop. Martha, you trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I do." Martha replied.

"Because it all depends on you." The Doctor told her. "Martha, this watch is us."

"Right, okay, gotcha. No, hold on. Completely lost." Martha shook her head.

"Those creatures are hunters. They can sniff out anyone, and him being a Time Lord and me being a cyborg, well, we're unique. They can track us down across the whole of time and space." Stella said as she crossed her arms.

"Huh." Martha breathed out. "And the good news is?"

"They can smell us, they haven't seen us. And their life span'll be running out, so we hide." The Doctor answered. "Wait for them to die."

"But they can track us down." Martha pointed out.

"That's why we've got to do it. I have to stop being a Time Lord and Stella has to stop being a cyborg. We're going to become human, completely human." The Doctor explained.

"Which is really annoying, this is going to wreak havoc on my allergies." Stella said as two headsets were lowered from the ceiling of the TARDIS.

"Never thought I'd use this. All the times I've wondered." The Doctor said looking at the headsets.

"What does it do?" Martha asked.

"Chameleon Arch. rewrites biology." The Doctor answered. "Literally changes every single cell in my body. I've set it to human for myself." The Doctor put the watch into the headset console, and then looked to Stella taking out a cord that came out of the console. "Stella, the Tardis will rewrite you memories locking your others away and I'm giving your ring a boost so it will have a very powerful perception field that will hide your technology from the family."

Well if I can just hide from the Family, why do I need to lock away my memories as well?" Stella asked not liking the idea of losing her memories as the Doctor soniced her ring causing her cyborg appearance to disappear, even she couldn't see the lines anymore.

"They'd be able to track your brainwaves since they run about the same as radio waves." The Doctor replied.

"Then why don't I just lock my own memories away?" Stella asked nervously.

"The way your brain runs needs the technology to perform your higher functions, the Tardis will shut them all down basically turning you human again. Without this one wrong thought could activate a piece of technology the family could track, this way your body won't even know how to activate any of your enhancements." The Doctor explained as he guided Stella over to the seat and moving her aside so he could get to the port at the back of her neck. "When the watch is opened it will send out a code to unlock your memories."

"Got it." Stella nodded. "Not liking it, but got it."

"Now, the Tardis will take care of everything." The Doctor glanced to Martha as he worked. "Invent a life story for us, find us a setting and integrate us. Can't do the same for you. You'll just have to improvise. We should have just enough residual awareness to let you in."

"But, hold on. If you're going to rewrite every single cell, isn't it going to hurt?" Martha asked.

"Oh, yeah. It hurts." The Doctor said before focusing back on Stella. "Ready?"

"No." Stella breathed out just before the Doctor plugged the cord in connecting the other end to the Tardis causing her to go tense, her eyes blanking out, then he took his position under the headset.

Martha could only watch the Doctor suffer screaming in horrible pain as Stella sat in the chair stiff in unmoving, her eyes unblinking. Martha would have thought the worst were it not for the tear making its way down Stella's cheek.

Martha shook her head of the memory and turned on a recording the Doctor made earlier.

"This working?" The Doctor asked on screen taping the recorder.

"Yes its working now stop hitting it." Stella said moving his hand out of the way.

"Martha, before we change, here's a list of instructions for when we're human. One, don't let us hurt anyone. We can't have that, but you know what humans are like." The Doctor said.

"For someone who likes humans you always seem to have something negative to say about them." Stella commented.

"Two, don't worry about the Tardis." The Doctor said ignoring Stella's comment. "I'll put it on emergency power so they can't detect it. Just let it hide away. Four."

"Three." Stella corrected.

"No, wait a minute, you're right, three." The Doctor nodded. "No getting involved in big historical events."

"Four, and most importantly, you." Stella said seriously. "Don't let us abandon you."

"And fi…" Martha cut him off fast forwarding the tape.

"But there was a meteor, a shooting star. What am I supposed to do then?" Martha asked hitting play again.

"And twenty three. If anything goes wrong, if they find us, Martha, then you know what to do. Open the watch to restore my Time Lord DNA and Stella's memories will be unlocked and downloaded back into her mind." The Doctor went on. "Everything we are is kept safe in there. Now, we've put a perception filter on it so the humans that we become won't think anything of it."

"To him and her, it's just a watch. But don't open it unless you have to." Stella cautioned. "Because once it's open, then the Family will be able to find us. It's all down to you, Martha. Your choice."

"Oh, and thank you." The Doctor smiled.

"I know we're in good hands." Stella smiled as well and the picture froze of the Doctor and Stella smiling at the through the screen.

"I wish you'd both come back." Martha stared at the screen.

-0-

Stella sat in the box seat of her window her own journal in hand and the Doctor's on a table next to her. There had been very many similarities throughout his journal compared to hers and it was disturbing to say the least. She looked down at her journal which held within it stories of herself running through time and space, going where the wind took her, saving the day when she could.

There were other stories of her alternate self and her friend Jack Harkness getting into some interesting situations, the Face of Boe teaching her all that he knew and helping her come to terms with her mechanical implants, she wrote herself with Jabe walking through the gardens of her planet, and so many others. She knew who the unknown girl was in the Doctor's journal, it was her and the unknown Doctor in her book was him. Shaking her head she placed her book on top of the Doctor's before looking out to the sky, the dawn breaking and decided to take an early morning walk.

She pulled on her clothes and wrapped a shawl around her shoulders before heading out down the hall and into the school grounds. These people that she drew seemed so much more than just characters she had dreamed up; in her dreams they were family. It was scaring her, but she was starting to question what reality was and what fiction was in her world.

Shaking her head of the troubling thought Stella started to hum as she walked along, but soon her walk turned into a small dance. A skin here, a twirl there, and soon she was lost to the melody, so much so that she didn't notice the Doctor making his way onto the grounds pausing when he saw her, a soft smile on his lips.

He silently walked closer not wanting to startle her as humming turned to soft singing.

 _Dawn breaks; there is blue in the sky._

 _Your face before me_

 _Though I don't know why._

 _Thoughts disappearing like tears from the Moon._

 _Waiting here, as I sit by the stone,_

 _They came before me_

 _Those men from the Sun._

 _Signs from the heavens say I am the one._

 _Now you're here, I can see your light,_

 _this light that I must follow._

 _You, you may take my life away, so far away._

 _Now I know I must leave your spell_

 _I want tomorrow._

Stella turned suddenly to return to the school as she finished the small song just in time to come face to face with John, both of them yelping in surprise.

"Oh, you startled me." Stella put a hand to her heart.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to, I just saw you walking and well…." He trailed off with a shrug, but then her eyes went wide.

"Did you…how long…?" Stella asked with a fierce blush.

"Oh, well, quite while actually." The Doctor tugged on his ear, her face going even redder so he quickly tried to put her at ease. "You have a lovely voice though, I liked hearing it."

"You're to kind." Stella said letting her gaze fall to the ground.

"No really, it was beautiful." The Doctor said earnestly making her smile as she glanced shyly back up at him.

"Thank you." Stella mumbled.

"May I escort you back to the school?" The Doctor asked kindly and she nodded as they fell into step with each other. "I've never heard that song before. What is it called?"

"Called?" Stella echoed as she tried to remember. "I don't remember, it just sort of came to me."

"Ah well, I have the same trouble trying to remember book titles." The Doctor rubbed the back of his head as they spent the rest of the walk back to the school in small talk, both of them trading small smiles every time their gazes seemed to meet.

-0-

Stella came out of the school an extremely unpleasant shiver making its way down her back upon seeing the Doctor teaching the boys how to shoot and though that was her greatest discomfort she also felt like she was on the edge of a horrible memory just begging to be remembered.

"Concentrate." The Doctor called out as the boys practiced machine guns on rough targets. "Hutchinson, excellent work."

"Cease fire!" The headmaster ordered.

"Good day to you, Headmaster." The Doctor greeted him.

"Your crew's on fine form today, Mister Smith." The headmaster said.

"Excuse me, Headmaster. We could do a lot better. Latimer's being deliberately shoddy." Hutchinson accused Latimer.

"I'm trying my best." Latimer replied.

"You need to be better than the best. Those targets are tribesmen from the Dark Continent." The Headmaster said.

"That's exactly the problem, sir. They only have spears." Latimer pointed out.

"Oh, dear me. Latimer takes it upon himself to make us realize how wrong we all are. I hope, Latimer, that one day you may have a just and proper war in which to prove yourself. Now, resume firing." The Headmaster ordered and was obeyed.

"Stoppage. Immediate action." Hutchinson ordered, but Latimer was lost in thought. "Didn't I tell you, sir? This stupid boy is useless. Permission to give Latimer a beating, sir."

"It's your class, Mister Smith." The headmaster looked to the Doctor. Stella heard them and looked to the Doctor, a hand pressed to her heart as she waited for his answer.

"Permission granted." The Doctor nodded and Stella felt her heart drop, she almost felt herself start forward, the urge to snap at him was strong. She was so troubled by what she was hearing that she didn't even realize that she was hearing something to far away for her to hear.

"Right. Come with me, you little oik." Hutchinson and his friends lead the stunned Latimer away as Baines looked at the Doctor and sniffed.

"Anything the matter, Baines?" The Doctor asked.

"I thought…. no, sir…nothing, sir." Baines left.

"As you were, Mister Smith." The headmaster said walking away as well.

"Ah, Pemberton, Smythe, Wicks, take post." The Doctor said upon spotting Stella and walked over to her.

"Ah, Nurse Quill." The Doctor greeted her.

"I'll give you back your journal when next I see you." Stella said quickly about to leave, her disappointment souring her mood.

"No, no, no. You don't have to." The Doctor said noticing her agitated look.

"If you'll excuse me, Mister Smith, I should get back to work." Stella rushed off leaving the Doctor behind, confused at the encounter.

Stella walked briskly to where she heard the awful sounds of the boys beating on Latimer. She felt her blood boil at the sight of them her speed increasing.

"That is enough." Stella snapped making the boys stop as she separated them from Latimer.

"I don't believe that's your call Matron, you better just move along or I'll have to report you." Hutchinson sneered. Stella felt like something shifted in her as she straightened up her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Oh, you have an empty threat, please tell me more." Stella hissed causing the boys to flinch back at the fire in her eyes. Stella took a calming breath and turned to Latimer. "Come along Latimer, your next class should be starting soon."

"Latimer has to have a woman save him." Hutchinson jibbed causing Stella to whirl around shooting forward causing the boys to stumble back at her fierceness until they fell backwards.

"Never anger a woman who can embalm dead bodies and discuss what's for lunch at the same time Hutchinson." Stella snarled and the boy's eyes widened at her words before they scrambled to their feet running away. Stella blinked a few times putting a hand to her head as she stumbled a bit.

"Matron, are you alright?" Latimer asked taking her arm.

"I believe so, I don't know what came over me, and I don't usually act like that." Stella said in shock.

"Maybe I should walk you back to the school." Latimer offered and Stella nodded walking with him back to her office. Once she was sure he wasn't too badly hurt beyond some scrapes and bruises, Stella sent Latimer on his way. Stella took her seat behind her desk and took out her journal flipping through it, losing herself in her dreams.

-0-

Two workmen were hoisting an upright piano up to the first floor window of the Ironmongers as the Doctor and Stella were walking together through the town. He had come to after school asking if she'd like to go for a stroll through town, she had considered turning him down the thoughts of her encounter with the boys fresh in her mind, but one look into those puppy dog brown eyes and she gave in.

It was a lovely albeit rainy day and a nice breeze was flowing through. They had talked about a few light subjects back and forth, though Stella could tell he was hedging around what he really wanted to talk about.

"John, is something bothering you?" Stella asked softly.

"You left so suddenly." The Doctor replied. Stella took a moment looking away to gather her thoughts before she spoke.

"I find myself as part of that school watching boys learn how to kill. It troubles me." Stella said feeling the nagging sensation return. "War is a horrible thing and to be teaching our boys at so early an age horrifies me." Stella thought of her nightmares of wars that raged through the stars. "War is the providence of man not of boys." She paused for a moment before she spoke again. "I also…I find myself disappointed in you John."

"In me? Why?" The Doctor asked looking to her meeting her gaze.

"Letting those boys beat Latimer helps with nothing other than having Latimer even more afraid of the boys than he may already be!" Stella very nearly snapped and the Doctor flinched at her tone.

"Don't you think discipline is good for them?" The Doctor asked hesitantly.

"Not this kind of discipline." Stella shook her head in anger. "Why does it have to be such military discipline? I mean, if there's another war those boys won't find it so amusing."

"Well, Great Britain is at peace, long may it reign." The Doctor replied as Stella looked away.

"In your journal, in one of your stories, you wrote about next year. Nineteen fourteen." Stella said clasping her hands together tightly to hide their shaking.

"That was just a dream." The Doctor replied.

"All those images of mud and wire, you told of a shadow." Stella looked truly troubled. "A shadow falling across the entire world."

"Well then, we can be thankful it's not true. And I'll admit mankind doesn't need warfare and bloodshed to prove itself. Everyday life can provide honor and valor, and let's hope that from now on this, this country can find its heroes in smaller places." The Doctor went on, but Stella really wasn't listening watching as a woman rang her bicycle bell as she peddled along then her gaze moved to the men with the piano struggling as it dangled from a fraying rope. Then a woman pushing a perambulator came around the corner.

"In the most…" The Doctor was also caught up in the movement around him, his speech slowing as they saw a boy standing next to them, with a cricket ball in his hand. Some more of the rope frayed and the piano dropped a bit. "Ordinary of, of deeds."

Stella grabbed the cricket ball and tossed it to the Doctor who threw it at the scaffolding outside the Ironmongers, which fell and hit a plank that sent a brick flying through the air to knock down a milk churn in front of the perambulator, stopping it just before the rope finally gave up and dropped the piano to the ground mere feet in front of the woman and child. The piano fell to pieces and the baby started crying.

"Are you all right? How's the little one?" The workmen checked on the woman clutching her child.

"Lucky." The Doctor said as they stared at what just happened.

"That was luck?" Stella scoffed a hand over her heart.

"Nurse Quill, might I invite you to the village dance this evening, as my guest?" The Doctor asked suddenly turning to her, a breathless smile on his face.

"You're extraordinary man." Stella smiled up at him.

"And you're and extraordinary woman." The Doctor smiled back as they continued their walk soon coming to a cart track where a scarecrow stood nearby. At some point the Doctor had taken Stella's hand in his looping it through his arm and covering it with his opposite hand. They were once again on the subject of his journal and Stella was preparing to bring up her own.

"Oh, it's all becoming clear now. The Doctor is the man you'd like to be, doing impossible things with cricket balls." Stella pointed out.

"Well, I discovered a talent, that's certainly true, with your help of course." The Doctor replied.

"But the Doctor has an eye for the ladies." Stella teased.

"The devil." The Doctor joked back.

"A girl at every fireplace." Stella went on.

"Ah, now, there I have to protest, Astraia. That is hardly me." The Doctor shook his head.

"Says the man dancing with me tonight." Stella replied, her eyes lowering demurely as a blushed played along her cheeks.

"That scarecrow's all skewed." The Doctor said suddenly spotting the scarecrow with its arm hanging loose and walked up gently tugging Stella along, their arms still looped together. The Doctor released her then proceeded to tie the straw man's arm back onto the cross-member.

"Ever the artist." Stella smiled as she watched him. "Where did you learn to draw?"

"Gallifrey." He answered making Stella's mind jolt.

"Is that in Ireland?" Stella asked softly.

"Yes, it must be, yes." The Doctor nodded, sounding as distant as Stella's eyes looked.

"But you're not Irish?" Stella said, her head cocking to the side.

"Not at all, no. My father, Sidney, was a watchmaker from Nottingham, and my mother, Verity was, er…well, she was a nurse, actually." The Doctor smiled at Stella a blush staining his cheeks.

"Oh. We make such good wives." Stella teased him making the blush darker.

"Really?" The Doctor nearly squeaked.

"My mother Emily was a nurse and my father Lance a doctor, both of them from America. They met in Greece on holiday then had a very happy and long life together." Stella said wistfully as she told him a little bit about her family.

"They sound lovely." The Doctor commented. "Well, my work is done." The Doctor said as he stepped back from the scarecrow. "What do you think?"

"Masterpiece." Stella nodded.

"All sorts of skills today!" The Doctor said then saw a group of white daisies growing at the base of the scarecrow and picked one of them handing it to Stella.

"For you." He smiled and Stella took it their fingers lingering together with the flower between them.

"Thank you." Stella smiled back as she tucked the flower into her hair before they continued on their way the scarecrow watching them as they went.

-0-

Stella tried not to fidget as the Doctor sat on the couch opposite her his pencil moving across the paper glancing up at her periodically. She'd be lying if she said she didn't take the opportunity to study the Doctor as well taking in his appearance, the way his brows furrowed in concentration and his lips puckered slightly, it was adorable.

"Can I see?" Stella asked and the Doctor nodded walking over to sit down next to her on the Chesterfield showing her the drawing in his sketch book. "Oh, goodness do I look like that?"

Stella looked over the drawing of herself in wonder, he saw her in a way she never did. She was smiling softly her head tilted ever so slightly allowing some of her hair to fall over her shoulder, and her eyes held a sort of day dreamy look.

"Do you like it?" The Doctor asked scooting closer to her.

"You've made me far too beautiful." Stella blushed as she turned toward him their eyes meeting.

"Well, that's how I see you." The Doctor said quietly as he stroked her hair gently, Stella leaning into his touch their eyes seemingly entranced with the others and then he leaned in kissing her softly, pulling away for a moment. "I've never er…" He couldn't help, but to lean in and kiss her again, then the door opened suddenly making them spring apart as Martha stared at them in shock. "Martha, what have I told you about entering unannounced?"

Martha ran out again, but did not come back in reaming outside of the study her eyes wide, then she rushed away out of the school.

"I'm so sorry." The Doctor apologized to Stella who was blushing like mad.

"No, it's fine." Stella said quickly as she stood to her feet followed by the Doctor. "I should return to my quarters, it is getting late."

"I did not mean to offend you." The Doctor said shuffling his feet, thinking her quick retreat was a result of his forward attitude.

"Believe me John, you in no way offended me." Stella said with a large smile which the Doctor returned as they moved over to the doors of his rooms.

"I'm glad." The Doctor opened the door for her. "Goodnight Astraia."

"Goodnight John." Feeling bold Stella stood up on her tip toes placing a quick kiss on the Doctor's cheek before slipping out the door. The Doctor grinned placing a hand on his cheek where she had kissed him before slowly closing the doors and getting ready for bed in a happy daze.

-0-

Martha ran all the way back to the TARDIS as fast as she could, practically breaking down the doors in her hurry to get inside.

"That wasn't on the list." Martha breathed out before running away back to the TARDIS. Martha ran through the recording of instructions again.

"Four and most important, you. Don't let us abandon you." Stella said.

"That's no good. What about the stuff you didn't tell me? What about women?" Martha scoffed sarcastically. "Oh no, you didn't think of that. What in hell am I supposed to do then?"

"Thank you." The Doctor said.

"You had to, didn't you? You had to go and fall in love with a girl, and it wasn't me, it was Stella." Martha said despondently.

-0-

Stella showed off her scooped dual neckline party dress which was a beautiful shade of deep blue with an empire waist dark blue sash, the back panels of the skirt were arranged in crisscross style while the over-skirt was slit to reveal a softer under-skirt, the back was open, and elbow length blue lace sleeves. The hem of the dress was accented in silver and embroidered golden flowers. Her hair was up in a bouffant bun decorated with a gold, sapphire, and silver comb along the right side of the bun.

"You look wonderful." The Doctor said appraisingly.

"Thank you." Stella blushed. "You'd best give me some warning, can you actually dance?"

"I'm not certain." The Doctor said, really not knowing.

"There's a surprise." Stella smiled. "Is there anything you're certain about?"

"Yes, one thing I am more than certain of." The Doctor took her hand in his gently pulling her closer his free hand wrapping around her waist. Stella smiled as she stood on the tips of her toes and the Doctor leaned down his breath brushing across her lips then Martha burst in, breathless.

"They've found us." Martha said making them both spring apart once again.

"This is ridiculous." Stella said in frustration, friendship or not, she did not like being stopped from kissing the Doctor.

"Martha, I've warned you." The Doctor told her in equal frustration.

"They've found us, and I've seen them. They look like people, like us, like normal. I'm sorry, but you've got to open the watch." Martha looked to mantle but no watch. "Where is it?" She searched the mantelpiece. "Oh, my God. Where has it gone? Where is the watch?"

"What are you talking about?" The Doctor asked.

"You had a watch, a fob watch. Right there." Stella pointed to the mantle.

"Did I? I don't remember." The Doctor said in confusion.

"Why is it so important? It's only a watch." Stella looked to Martha.

"But we need it. Oh, my God, Doctor, Stella, we're hiding from aliens, and they've got Jenny and they've possessed her or copied her or something, and you've got to tell me, where is the watch?" Martha demanded.

"Jenny? What's wrong with Jenny?" Stella asked a little concerned, but the Doctor just shook his head.

"Oh, I see. Cultural differences." The Doctor came to a realization as he picked up his journal that Stella had brought back to him. "It must be so confusing for you. Martha, this is what we call a story."

"Oh you complete…. This is not you and that is not her." Martha gestured at them both. "This is nineteen thirteen."

"Good. This is nineteen thirteen." The Doctor said like he was speaking to a child.

"I've sorry. I'm really sorry, but I've got to snap you out of this." Martha slapped the Doctor, hard.

"Martha!" Stella snapped.

"Wake up! You're both coming back to the Tardis with me." Martha demanded.

"How dare…how dare you. I'm not going anywhere with an insane servant. Martha, you are dismissed. You will leave these premises immediately. Now get out!" The Doctor pushed Martha out into the corridor slamming the door shut behind her. "The nerve of it…the absolute cheek…you think I'm a fantasist? What about her?"

"I wonder what could have come over her, she was such a sweet girl." Stella said as she gently placed her hand over the Doctor's reddened cheek, his hand coming up holding it there. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." The Doctor assured her leaning into her touch.

"I just wish I knew what came over her." Stella said in concern as her thumb stroked his cheek. "Maybe we should talk to her again."

"Tomorrow I promise, but right now we have a dance to attend, we should go or we'll be late." The Doctor said taking her hand kissing her palm before tucking it into his arm and strolling out of the room.

-0-

The stars were shinning above them and there was a pleasant chill in the air as they walked into town and to the dance. The sounds of the party wafting through the air filled with song and laughter.

"She's infatuated. You're a dangerous man." Stella said as she walked arm in arm with the Doctor.

"You've taken my arm in public." The Doctor noticed with a pleased grin.

"I'm very scared." Stella replied with a small smile tightening her hold on the Doctor as they walked up the steps.

"Spare a penny for the veterans of the Crimea, sir?" A beggar asked holding up a tin cup.

"Yes, of course." The Doctor said placing some money into the cup. "There you are."

The Doctor and Stella went inside as the beggar checked the coins in his cup. There was quite a crowd gathered for the dance and the decorations were very pleasant. The announcer took his place on the stage gaining everyone's attention.

"Ladies and gentlemen. Please take your partners for a waltz." The village band started playing as the Doctor swept Stella onto the floor.

"You can dance." Stella said as they twirled.

"I surprise myself." The Doctor said with a grin. "You are quite good as well."

"Rhythm has always come easy to me." Stella smiled right before they bumped into another couple.

"Sorry." The Doctor said for them.

"Now if I could only get the coordination down." Stella joked causing the Doctor to chuckle as the music came to a stop.

"How about something to drink?" The Doctor asked leading her over to a table.

"That would be lovely." Stella nodded taking a seat.

"Right then, I'll be right back." The Doctor went off to fetch the refreshments when Martha sat down at the table with Stella.

"Please, don't. Not again." Stella said in frustration.

"He's different from any other man you've ever met, right?" Martha asked.

"Yes, but…." Stella replied.

"And sometimes he says these strange things, like people and places you feel like you've heard of, yeah? And sometimes you feel that you recognize him as more than John, but it's deeper than that. Sometimes when you look in his eyes you know, you just know that there's something else in there. Something hidden. Right behind the eyes, something hidden away in the dark…and I know you see the same in yours." Martha went on unnerving Stella with her words.

"I don't know what you mean." Stella breathed out her hands clutched tightly together. She didn't want this, she didn't want it to be true, she what the life she was having now to be true.

"Yes, you do." Martha replied as the Doctor returned to the table.

"Oh, now really, Martha. This is getting out of hand. I must insist that you leave." The Doctor said as Martha stood and held up the sonic screwdriver.

"Do you know what this is? Name it. Go on, name it." Martha held the device up to him.

"John?" Stella said softly standing as the Doctor took the screwdriver both of them looking at it closely.

"You're not John Smith and you're not a Matron Quill. You're called the Doctor and you're Stella. The man and woman in his journal, they're real. They're you." Martha told them.

"There will be silence! All of you!" Clark said as they Scarecrows entered causing the people to panic. "I said, silence!"

"Mister Clarke, what's going on?" Chambers demanded then got vaporized.

"Mister Smith Matron Quill? Everything I told you, just forget it! Don't say anything." Martha told them urgently.

"We asked for silence! Now then, we have a few questions for Mister Smith." Clark said gazing out on the crowd.

"No, better than that." Lucy spoke up. "The teacher. He's the Doctor and the Matron is the cyborg. I heard them talking."

"You took human form." Baines smirked.

"Of course we're human. We were born human, as were you, Baines. And Jenny, and you, Mister Clark." The Doctor snapped.

"Jenny, what is going on?" Stella demanded. "This is madness."

"Ooo, and a human brain, too. Simple, thick and dull." Baines smiled.

"But they're no good like this." Jenny said.

"We need the Time Lord and the cyborgs memories." Clark said.

"Easily done." Baines stepped forward and raised his ray gun. "Change back."

"We don't know what you're talking about." The Doctor insisted.

"Change back!" Baines demanded.

"We literally do not know…No!" Stella tried, but Jenny grabbed Martha putting a gun to her head.

"Get off me!" Martha struggled.

"She's your friend, isn't she? Doesn't this scare you enough to change back?" Jenny demanded threatening Martha.

"I don't know what you mean!" The Doctor said desperately.

"Let her go." Stella snapped getting angry.

"Wait a minute. The maid told me about Smith and the Matron. That woman, there…" Jenny pointed to Stella.

"Then let's have you." Clark took Stella and put his gun to her head.

"Have you enjoyed it, Doctor, being human? Has it taught you wonderful things? Are you better, richer, wiser?" Baines asked sarcastically. "Then let's see you answer this. Which one of them do you want us to kill? Maid or matron? Your friend or your lover? Your choice."

TO BE CONTINUED…


	13. Chapter 13

"Make your decision, Mister Smith." Jenny said with a smirk.

"Perhaps if that human heart breaks, the Time Lord will emerge." Baines suggested. Out of sight, Latimer took the watch from his pocket, and opened it. Golden energy laced with a blue pulsing light streams shimmered and the Family turned their heads quickly toward the source. Stella put a hand to her head in pain, as something seemed to pulse in it.

"Time Lord." A voice said. "Cyborg."

"It's him!" Baines said as Latimer closed the watch, the pain vanishing from Stella's head. Martha using the distraction got the gun off Jenny and used her as a shield while she aimed it at Baines.

"All right! One more move and I shoot." Martha threatened.

"Oh, the maid is full of fire." Baines sneered.

"And you can shut up!" Martha fired the gun at the ceiling.

"Careful, Son of Mine. This is all for you so that you can live forever." Clark cautioned Baines.

"Shoot you down." Baines said aiming his gun.

"Try it. We'll die together." Martha growled.

"Would you really pull the trigger? Looks too scared." Baines commented.

"Scared and holding a gun's a good combination. Do you want to risk it?" Martha asked in a snide voice.

The family reluctantly lowered their guns allowing Stella to return to the Doctor who wrapped his arms around her holding her close. Stella clung to him her mind whirling with conflicting thoughts, one saying all of this was true; what Martha said, her dreams, and this monstrous family, but at the same time counter thoughts warred against her, saying that she was Matron Astraia Quill and no one else, it was giving her a headache, the pain triggering it.

"Doctor, get everyone out. There's a door at the side. It's over there." Martha said, but the Doctor hesitated. "Go on. Do it, Mister Smith. I mean you."

Stella took a breath steeling herself as she pulled herself away from the Doctor.

"Do what she said, everybody out, now, don't argue, Mister Jackson." Stella took charge ushering the people out of the dance. "They're mad. That's all we need to know. Susan, Miss Cooper, outside, all of you."

The villagers run out of the dance, screaming at the top of their lungs panic driving them.

"Move yourself, boy. Back to the school, quickly." The Doctor helped Stella along.

"And you." Martha said to the Doctor and Stella. "Go on. Just shift."

"What about you?" The Doctor asked as he and Stella clung to each other's hands.

"Mister Smith, I think you should escort your lady friend to safety, don't you?" Martha looked to Stella and was surprised to see a brief insulted look cross Stella's face before she was once again the Matron. The Doctor nodded taking Stella out of the hall.

"Mister Hicks, warn the village. Get everyone out." The Doctor ordered.

"Matron, are you alright?" Latimer asked looking to her on concern.

"I am, thank you Latimer." Stella nodded.

"Latimer, get back to the school. Tell the headmaster…" The Doctor tried, but Latimer flinched away from him.

"Don't touch me. You're as bad as them." Latimer said before he ran away as Martha ran out of the hall.

"Don't just stand there, move! God, you're both rubbish as humans. Come on!" Martha snapped at them making them all run to the school. The Doctor closed the main doors behind them, grabbed the bell and started ringing it.

"What are you doing?" Martha asked him.

"Maybe one man can't fight them, but this school teaches us to stand together. Take arms! Take arms!" The Doctor called out.

"You can't do that!" Martha said in a panic.

"You want me to fight, don't you? Take arms! Take arms!" The Doctor continued to shout.

"I say sir, what's the matter?" Hutchinson asked sleepily as he came into the foyer.

"Enemy at the door, Hutchinson. Enemy at the door. Take arms!" The Doctor ordered and the guns were being passed out amongst the students much to Martha's horror.

"You can't do this, Doctor. Mister Smith!" Martha snapped.

"Lark, maintain position over the stable yard." The Doctor ignored her. "Faster now. That's it."

"They're just boys. You can't ask them to fight. They don't stand a chance." Martha was close to yelling.

"They're cadets, Miss Jones. They are trained to defend the King and all his citizens and properties." The Doctor snapped as the Headmaster entered.

"What in thunder's name is this? Before I devise an excellent and endless series of punishments for each and every one of you, could someone explain very simply and immediately exactly what is going on?" The headmaster demanded.

"Headmaster, I have to report the school is under attack." The Doctor told him.

"Really? Is that so?" The headmaster clearly did not believe him. "Perhaps you and I should have a word in private."

"No, I promise you, sir. I was in the village with Matron." The Doctor said gesturing to Stella. "It's Baines, sir. Jeremy Baines and Mister Clark from Oakham Farm. They've gone mad, sir. They've got guns. They've already murdered people in the village. I saw it happen."

"Matron, is that so?" The headmaster looked to her.

"I'm afraid it's true, sir." Stella nodded.

"Murder on our own soil?" The headmaster looked appalled.

"I saw it. Yes." Stella said adamantly.

"Perhaps you did well then, Mister Smith." The headmaster said to the Doctor. "What makes you thing the danger's coming here?"

"Well, sir, they said…" The Doctor trailed off.

"Baines threatened Mister Smith and I, sir." Stella finished for him. "Said he'd follow us. We don't know why."

"Very well. You boys, remain on guard." The headmaster nodded. "Mister Snell, telephone for the police. Mister Philips, with me. We shall investigate."

"No! But it's not safe out there." Martha tried to stop him.

"Mister Smith, it seems your favorite servant is giving me advice. You will control her, sir." The headmaster snapped before he and Philips left.

"I've got to find that watch." Martha said and left, Stella following her straight to the Doctor's rooms.

-0-

Martha was searching everywhere throughout the rooms while Stella stood there watching her. Her dreams were flashing before her mind's eye making her feel nauseous and she felt like she was standing over an oven.

"I know it sounds mad, but when the Doctor and you became human, he took the alien part of himself and stored it inside this watch as well as downloading all of your memories as Stella into it. It's not really a watch though, it just looks like watch." Martha ranted on.

"And alien means not from abroad, I take it." Stella said crossing her arms protectively across her chest.

"The man you call John Smith, was born on another world." Martha told her.

"A different species." Stella surmised.

"Yeah." Martha nodded.

"And I'm from another world as well?" Stella pointed to herself.

"No, you're form earth, but you were kidnapped by these lizard people and changed into a cyborg." Martha explained what Stella had once told her.

"Cyborg?" Stella looked at her in confusion.

"It means you're part machine." Maratha explained.

"Part machine." Stella echoed fearfully looking down at her hands, the brief image of blue opal lines marring them flashing in her mind's eye before she pushed it away.

"That's why the family wants you, for your technology. They think they can use it to find a way to graft the Doctor's DNA to their own." Martha said as she searched. "A way for them to gain eternal life."

"Then tell me. In this fairy tale, who are you?" Stella asked.

"Just a friend. I'm not….I mean, you haven't got a rival, just his friend and your friend as well." Martha said looking to Stella.

"And you're pure human, I take it?" Stella asked.

"Human. Don't worry. And more than that, I just don't follow him around. I'm training to be a doctor. Not an alien doctor, a proper doctor, a doctor of medicine." Martha told her.

"I'm not sure why, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt." Stella said putting a hand to her head. "I'm not saying I believe you, but…"

"Oh, do you think? Bones of the hand. Carpal bones, proximal row. Scaphoid, lunate, triquetal, pisiform. Distal row. Trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metacarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges. Proximal, middle, distal." Martha listed off pointing to her hand.

"You read that in a book." Stella said breathlessly.

"Yes, to pass my exams." Martha said in exasperation. "Can't you see this is true?"

"I must go." Stella turned away leaving, trying to outrun her rampant thoughts and doubts.

"If we find that watch, then we can stop them." Martha tried to stop her.

"Those boys are going to fight. I might not be a doctor, but I'm still their nurse." Stella looked to Martha and for a moment Martha could see Stella in the Matron's eyes. "They need me."

With that Stella left the room her head spinning trying to block out Martha's words. It was all too much for her to accept, it couldn't be true because if it was then that meant that the love she held for John and the love she hoped he held for her might not be real…and that was a nightmare she did not want.

-0-

"You're with Armitage and Thwaites. They know the drill." The Doctor ordered then said Stella coming down the hall in her nurse's uniform. "Stella, it's not safe."

"I'm doing my duty, just as much as you." Stella replied sternly then started to smile. "Fine evening we've had together."

"Not quite as planned." The Doctor replied smiling a little as well.

"Tell me about Nottingham." Stella said suddenly.

"Sorry?" The Doctor asked in confusion of the abrupt question.

"That's where you were brought up." Stella replied. "Tell me about it."

"Well, it lies on the River Leen, its southern boundary following the course of the River Trent which flows from Stoke to the Humber." The Doctor rattled off.

"That sounds like an encyclopedia." Stella said feeling a little panicked when she recalled her own home in Bristol much the same way. "Where did you live?"

"Broadmoor Street. Adjacent to Hotley Terrace in the district of Radford Parade." The Doctor replied and it was like an eerie mirror to her own memories.

"But more than facts. When you were a child, where did you play? All those secret little places, the dens and hideaways that only a child knows? Tell me, John. Please tell me." Stella begged desperately.

"How can you think that I'm not real?" The Doctor demanded, catching onto what her questions were really about. "When I kissed you, was that a lie?"

"No, it wasn't. No." Stella shook her head taking his hands into hers. "It was perfect, everything that I could have ever hoped for and so much more."

"But this Doctor sounds like some, some romantic lost prince. Would you rather that? Am I not enough?" The Doctor asked looking at her, hurt evident.

"No, that's not true, never. You are more than I ever dreamed of finding in someone I cared for and loved so deeply without any fear." Stella said vehemently making the Doctor smile slightly. "But John, I'm scared because what I remember of my childhood feels like it's from an encyclopedia as well. All those things in your journal seem more real to me than anything else in this world and I don't know why, but something tells me you do."

"I've got to go." The Doctor said starting to move away.

"Martha was right about one thing, though." Stella stopped him, her hands clasped in front of herself. "Those boys, they're children. John Smith wouldn't want them to fight, never mind the Doctor. The John Smith I was getting to know, he knows it's wrong, doesn't he?"

"Mister Smith, if you please!" The headmaster called out.

"What choice do I have?" The Doctor asked before he pulled her into a deep loving, but brief kiss before running off.

"Only the ones you allow yourself to have." Stella said to herself as she watched him go tears streaming down her cheeks.

-0-

"Stand to!" The headmaster called out as the scarecrows hammered at the main gate. "At post!"

Everyone took aim.

"Enemy approaching, sir." A boy called out.

"Steady. Find the biting point." The scarecrows broke in. "Fire!" The boys opened fire and take down scarecrows as they advance. The Doctor doesn't squeeze his trigger as the automatic gunfire filled the air, struggling against his conflicting emotions.

"Cease fire!" The headmaster called out all of the scarecrows down, the Doctor not having fired a shot. The headmaster walked over to the scarecrows. "They're straw. Like he said, straw."

"Then no one's dead, sir? We killed no one?" Hutchinson said as everyone looked in shock at the scarecrows. Footsteps on the gravel come closer and closer.

"Stand to!" The headmaster called out and everyone took aim again, but then Lucy along with her balloon came skipping up the drive just as Martha ran out of the school, Stella following, coming out of her hiding place. "You, child. Come out of the way. Come into the school. You don't know who's out there. It's the Cartwright girl, isn't it? Come here. Come to me."

"Mister Rocastle! Please, don't go near her." Martha called out.

"You were told to be quiet." The headmaster snapped.

"Just listen to me. She's part of it. Matron, tell him." Martha pleaded with Stella.

"I think that… I don't know… I think you should stay back, Headmaster." Stella said uncertainly.

"Mister Smith." Martha looked to the Doctor.

"She was, she was with, with Baines in the village." The Doctor nodded.

"Mister Smith, I've seen many strange sights this night, but there is no cause on God's Earth that would allow me to see this child in the field of battle, sir." The headmaster snapped then turned to Lucy holding out his hand as he approached her. "Come with me."

"You're funny." Lucy laughed.

"That's right. Now take my hand." The headmaster said.

"So funny." Lucy produced a ray gun and vaporized the Headmaster then looked to the students. "Now who's going to shoot me. Any of you, really?"

"Put down your guns." The Doctor ordered.

"But sir, the Headmaster…" Hutchinson tried.

"I'll not see this happen. Not anymore. You will retreat in an orderly fashion back through the school." The Doctor ordered. "Hutchinson, lead the way."

"But sir…" Hutchinson tried again not wanting to give the fight up.

"I said, lead the way." The Doctor said sternly.

"Well, go on, then. Run!" Baines fires his gun into the air spurring everyone into retreat.

"Come on!" Martha urged them into the building.

"Reanimate!" Baines ordered and the scarecrows reformed as the boys scattered throughout the buildings, followed by the reanimated scarecrows.

"Let's go. Quick as you can." The Doctor called out to the scared boys.

"Don't go to the village. It's not safe." Martha added.

"And you, ladies." The Doctor looked to Martha and Stella.

"Not till we've got the boys out." Stella replied.

"Now, I insist. The pair of you, just go. If there are any more boys inside, I'll find them." The Doctor opened the door revealing scarecrows on the other side and slammed it shut locking it tight. "I think, retreat."

-0-

Clark stood outside the building, shouting, as the Doctor, Stella, and Martha hid in the bushes.

"Doctor! Doctor!" Clark called out as the TARDIS was rolled along by scarecrows. "Come back, Doctor. Come home. Come and claim your prize."

"Out you come, Doctor." Baines called out. "There's a good boy. Come to the Family."

"Time to end it now." Jenny said.

"You recognize it, don't you?" Martha said softly to a shocked Doctor and Stella.

"It can't be." Stella breathed out.

"Come out, Doctor. Come to us!" Jenny went on all of them searching for any sign of the Doctor.

"I've never seen it in my life." The Doctor denied.

"Do you remember its name?" Martha pressed.

"I'm sorry, John, but you wrote about it." Stella breathed out. "The blue box. You dreamt of a blue box…and so…so have I."

"What?!" The Doctor yelped looking at her in shock while she bit her lip hanging her head.

"Those dreams you've had, well so have I, but in my dreams I'm the girl without the face in your book, the cyborg, that was me…. and in my dreams you are the Doctor." Stella said sadly as she took out her own journal handing it to the Doctor who flipped through it his eyes widening in shock. "I didn't want to say anything hoping if I denied it long enough, pushed it away it would go away."

"But, I'm not. I'm John Smith. That's all I want to be, John Smith, with his life, and his job, and his love." The Doctor took her hands in his. "Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?"

"Yes. Yes, he is and so much more." Stella said as the Doctor took his hands. "All I want to be is Astraia Quill with her love and a happy ending fulfilled, this isn't fair."

"Why can't we stay then?" The Doctor looked to Martha.

"But we need the Doctor and Stella." Martha answered.

"What are we, then? Nothing? We're just a story?" The Doctor snapped as he shot to his feet running away pulling Stella with him Martha following.

"This way. I think I know somewhere we can hide." Stella said pulling him one way.

"We've got to keep going." The Doctor replied.

"Just listen to me for once, John." Stella said in exasperation as she grabbed his hand pulling him along. "Now, follow me." Stella led them up to a well maintained cottage. "Oh, here we are. It should be empty."

"But who lives here?" Martha asked.

"If I'm right, no one." Stella replied as they walked inside finding a table set for tea that was never finished. "Hello?" There was no answer. "No one home. We should be safe here."

"Whose house is it, though?" Martha asked.

"Er, the Cartwrights. That little girl at the school, she's Lucy Cartwright, or she's taken Lucy Cartwright's form." Stella answered sadly. "If she came home this afternoon and if the parents tried to stop their little girl, then they were vanished." Stella reached out her hand ghosting over the teapot. "Stone cold." Stella shook her head holding her hand to her heart. "How easily I have begun to accept my dreams."

"We must go to them, before anyone else dies." The Doctor said worriedly.

"Martha, there must be something we can do." Stella looked to the girl.

"Not without the watch." Martha shook her head.

"You're this Doctor's companion and Stella's friend. Can't you help? What exactly do you do for them? Why do they need you?" The Doctor questioned.

"Because the Doctor was lonely." Martha replied. "He saved me and invited us along on his adventures. Then we found Stella stranded and alone as well, and she started to travel with us."

"And that's what you want us to become." The Doctor looked appalled. A knock at the door sounded making everyone go still.

"What if it's them?" Stella stepped back.

"I'm not an expert, but I don't think scarecrows knock." Martha opened the door.

"I brought you this." Latimer helped out the two watches, soft voices filling the air.

"Hold it." Martha said as Latimer held them out.

"I won't." The Doctor replied wrapping an arm around Stella's shoulder as they back away.

"Please, just hold it." Martha begged.

"No." Stella shook her head burying herself into the Doctor's side.

"They told me to find you. They want to be held." Latimer pressed.

"You've had this watch all this time? Why didn't you return it?" Stella snapped.

"Because they were waiting." Latimer replied. "And because I was so scared of the Doctor."

"What?" Stella breathed out, glancing to the Doctor. "Why?"

"Because I've seen him. He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun." Latimer spoke.

"Stop it." The Doctor said tightening his hold on Stella.

"He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe." Latimer went on.

"Stop it! I said stop it." The Doctor ordered.

"Please, just be silent." Stella said tears in her eyes.

"And he's wonderful." Latimer finished, both the Doctor and Stella staring at him. Slowly Stella reached into her pocket taking out the Doctor's journal and her own.

"I've still got these, my journal and yours." Stella said as she starred down at them.

"Those are just stories." The Doctor said shaking his head.

"Now we know that's not true." Stella said bitterly, the started to flip through the Doctor's journal then comparing it to hers. "Perhaps there's something in them..."

There was a big bang and the cottage shook violently causing everyone to stumble sharply.

"What the hell?" Martha breathed out as they ran to see what was happening. Fireballs were falling to earth a little way away from the cottage hitting the village.

"They're destroying the village." Stella breathed out a hand to her mouth then looked to the Doctor both of them entering into a silent communication then coming to a decision.

"The watch." The Doctor said holding out his hand.

'Closer.'

"Can you hear it?" Latimer asked as they took the watches.

'Closer.'

"I think they're asleep." Stella said softly. "Waiting to awaken."

'Little man, little woman.'

"Why did they speak to me?" Latimer asked.

"Oh, low level telepathic field. You were born with it, just an extra synaptic engram causing." The Doctor rattled off.

"Or maybe we just liked you kid, but I'd go more with the sciency answer." Stella said ruffling Latimer's head, then pulled her hand back like she had been burned.

"Is that how they talk?" The Doctor looked to Martha.

"That's them. All you have to do is open the watch and they're back." Martha beamed.

"Are he and I together?" Stella asked suddenly. "The Doctor and this other Stella, are we…in love?"

"I don't really know for certain." Martha shook her head.

"You knew this all along and yet you watched while Nurse Quill and I…" The Doctor said angrily.

"I didn't know how to stop you. They gave me a list of things to watch out, for but that wasn't included." Martha defended herself.

"Falling in love? That didn't even occur to them?" Stella looked horrified.

"No." Martha said.

"Then what sort of man and woman is that? And now you expect us to die?" The Doctor snapped.

"It was always going to end, though! The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan, and that's why they need to consume a Time Lord using Stella to make it happen. Otherwise, three months and they die. Like mayflies, he said." Martha told them.

"So your job was to execute us." The Doctor ground out.

"People are dying out there. They need them and I need them. Because you've got no idea of what he's like, or even Stella. I've only just met them. It wasn't even that long ago. But they are everything. He's just everything to me and he doesn't even look at me, but I don't care, because I love him to bits." Martha said then seemed to realize what she confessed. "And I hope to God neither of will remember me saying this."

An explosion close by blasted the air.

"It's getting closer." Latimer said.

"I should have thought of it before." The Doctor said suddenly excited. "I can give them this, just the watch. Then they can leave and we can stay as we are."

"You can't do that!" Martha replied.

"If they want the Doctor and Stella, they can have them." Stella said sharing the Doctor's happiness.

"They'll never let you do it." Martha argued, and Stella looked to the journals.

"If they get what they want, then, then…" The Doctor trailed off when he saw Stella holding the journals her face dark. Her face was crestfallen and tears once again gathered in her eyes.

"Then it all ends in destruction, those creatures would live forever to breed and conquer, forever war across the stars for every child." Stella said softly and taking a shuddering breath laying the journals down before she turned to Martha and Timothy. "Martha, Timothy, would you leave us alone, please?"

Martha and Latimer leave closing the door to the cottage behind them. Stella looked to the Doctor and without a word they fell into each other's arms, Stella sobbing as the bombardment on the village continues as Martha and Latimer sit outside.

"We need to do this." Stella said softly as the Doctor held her close rubbing her back.

"He won't love you." The Doctor breathed out gently moving a strand of hair from her face and caressing her cheek with the back of his knuckles.

"We don't know that for sure." Stella said as she placed her hand over his holding it to her cheek.

"And it was real. I wasn't…I really thought…" The Doctor looked into her eyes.

"It was real to me and you and that's what's important." Stella said as she picked up both of the watch holding it in her shaking hands. Then the Doctor put his hands over hers the watch cradled between their hands.

 _John Smith kissed his bride, now Astraia Smith as the bells rang. He held his first-born child. They took two children for a walk in the woods. He lay on his death bed, an old man Astraia by his side._

" _They're all safe, aren't they? The children, the grandchildren. Everyone's safe?" The Doctor asked._

" _Everyone's safe, and they all send their love, John." Stella replied holding one of his hands in hers stroking his forehead with the other._

" _Well, it's time. Thank you." The Doctor smiled. "I love you."_

" _I love you as well." Stella replied kissing his forehead then his lips just before he goes._

"Did you see?" The Doctor looked to Stella, both of them with tears in their eyes, Stella holding onto the memory of their children, a dear dream so close to her heart yet so far from her grasp.

"The Time Lords have such adventures, but they could never have a life like that, nor could Stella." Stella shook her head.

"And yet we could." The Doctor said causing her eyes to snap up to his.

"What are we going to do?" Stella asked, her voice breaking, the Doctor pulling her close once again.

-0-

"We'll blast them into dust, then fuse the dust into glass, then shatter them all over again." Baines said just before the doors to the shop opened allowing the Doctor and Stella to stumble in.

"Just…" A boom rocked the ship, and the Doctor lurched against a column of switches. He reached out pulling Stella to his side. "Just stop the bombardment. That's all we're asking. We'll do anything you want, just, just stop."

"Say please." Baines replied.

"Please." Stella begged and Jenny activated a control.

"Wait a minute." Jenny took a sniff. "Still human."

"Now I can't, I can't pretend to understand, not for a second, but I want you to know we're innocent in all this." The Doctor stuttered out as he and Stella clung to each other. "They made me John Smith and her Matron Astraia Quill. It's not like we had any control over it."

Stella trips pushing the Doctor over to some more controls and he ran his hands over more switches.

"He didn't just make himself human. He made himself an idiot." Jenny scoffed.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Baines replied.

"I don't care about this Doctor or Stella and your family. We just want you to go." Stella said gaining their attention. "So we've made our choice. You can have them. Just take it, please! Take them away."

The Doctor held out the watch.

"At last." Baines snatched them up with one hand, and the Doctor's lapels by the other pulling him away from Stella.

"No, let him go." Stella tried to grab him.

"Don't think that saved your life." Baines pushed the Doctor away into Stella. More switches get activated as the Doctor and Stella watch clutching each other close. "Family of Mine, now we shall have the lives of a Time Lord and the template of the cyborg." Baines opened the watch and they all sniff deeply. "It's empty!"

"Where's it gone?" The Doctor asked.

"You tell me." Baines threw the watches to the Doctor, who caught it without looking.

"Oh, I think the explanation might be you've been fooled by a simple olfactory misdirection. Little bit like ventriloquism of the nose. It's an elementary trick in certain parts of the galaxy. But it has got to be said, I don't like the looks of that hydroconometer." The Doctor rattled off gaining a much more confident stance.

"It seems to be indicating you've got energy feedback all the way through the retrostabilisers feeding back into the primary heat converters. Not good, not good at all." Stella said with a smirk to the family. "Because if there's one thing you shouldn't let him do, you shouldn't have let him press all those buttons."

"But, in fairness, I will give you one word of advice." The Doctor looked up at them sternly. "Run."

The Doctor and Stella run out of the ship as the alarms started to sound.

"Get out! Get out!" Baines yelled as he and his family ran then their spaceship went KaBOOM!

' _He never raised his voice. That was the worst thing. The fury of the Time Lord. And then we discovered why. Why this Doctor, who had fought with gods and demons, why he'd run away from us and hidden. He was being kind.'_

Clark, wearing heavy chains, fell into a pit.

' _He wrapped my father in unbreakable chains, forged in the heart of a dwarf star. He tricked my mother into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy to be imprisoned there forever.'_

Jenny was sucked out of the Tardis in deep space.

' _He still visits my little sister once a year every year. I wonder if one day he might forgive her, but there she is. Can you see? He trapped her inside a mirror, every mirror. If ever you look at your reflection and see something move behind you, just for a second, that's her. That's always her. As for me, I was suspended in time. And the Doctor put me to work standing over the fields of England, as their protector.'_

Baines had become a scarecrow.

' _We wanted to live forever, so the Doctor made sure that we did.'_

-0-

The rain was beating down over the fields as Martha was waiting by the Tardis, which was parked where the scarecrow that the Doctor mended used to stand.

"Right then. Molto bene." The Doctor said as they joined Martha.

"Time we moved on." Stella said looking out over the fields.

"If you want, I could go and…" Martha started to offer.

"Time we moved on." The Doctor echoed Stella.

"Er, I meant to say, back there, last night. I would have said anything to get you both to change." Martha said suddenly.

"Oh yeah, of course you would. Yeah." The Doctor nodded.

"I mean, I wasn't really…" Martha looked to Stella.

"Oh, no, no." Stella shook her head.

"Good." Martha said.

"Fine." The Doctor said.

"Great." Stella said.

"So here we are then." Martha said.

"There we are, yes. And I never said. Thanks for looking after us." The Doctor and Stella hug Martha.

"You were fantastic." Stella smiled.

"Doctor. Martha. Stella." Latimer called out as he ran up to them.

"Tim Timothy Timber. Timbo…" The Doctor smiled as Latimer gave him a look.

"Doctor, you're scaring the kid." Stella cut him off nudging him slightly.

"Right sorry." The Doctor apologized.

"I just wanted to say goodbye. And thank you. Because I've seen the future and I now know what must be done. It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever." Latimer said.

"You don't have to fight." Martha said.

"I think we do." Latimer replied.

"But you could get hurt." Martha pointed out.

"Well, so could you, travelling around with them, but it's not going to stop you." Latimer replied.

"Tim, I'd be honored if you'd take this." The Doctor gave Latimer the fob watch

"I can't hear anything." Latimer said as he took them.

"No, it's just a watch now." The Doctor replied.

"But keep it with you, for good luck." Stella hugged and kissed him on the cheek before going into the TARDIS.

"Look after yourself." Martha hugged and kissed Latimer on the cheek as well, then goes into the Tardis after Stella.

"You'll like this bit." The Doctor went into the Tardis, and it dematerializes.

-0-

A lady vicar was reading from For The Fallen, by Laurence Binyon.

"They have no lot in our labor of the day time.

They sleep beyond England's foam.

They went with songs to the battle…"

Latimer was sitting in a wheelchair, an old soldier with his medals and the Doctor's fob watch.

"They were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.

They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted."

Latimer looked across the grass to where Stella was pinning a poppy to the Doctor's lapel Martha standing next to them all of them smiling at Latimer.

"They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them."

The time travelers returned to the Tardis, all of them going their own ways to recover from their latest adventure. Stella wondering off to her room where she plopped down on one of the chair burying her face in her hands.

As if things weren't complicated enough in her life this had to happen. What was going to happen between her and the Doctor now, would he still want her around, did he have feelings for her…? The last one startled her a bit and begged the question…did she have feelings for him?

Oh it was all just one big mess of tangled up yarn, a mess she did not want to deal with right now. She kicked off her shoes and shed her unnecessary layers before climbing into bed pulling the covers up around her head cocooning herself against the universe.


	14. Chapter 14

The cab finally pulled to a stop outside of a shop, 'Sparrow and Nightingale', an antique books and rare videos store. The Doctor, Martha, and Stella piled out of the cab looking around for any signs to where the trouble was.

"Who's going to pay this tab?" The cabby called out to them. Stella and Martha glanced to the Doctor who just shrugged.

"Why do you never have money?" Stella shot the Doctor a look as she paid the cab driver before he drove off. "I'm starting to think that's the only reason you have companions half the time."

"Well it does help." The Doctor grinned making her roll her eyes.

"Ok, I think it's this way, we should hurry though." Martha said, adjusting her quiver full of arrows.

"Right, allonsy." The Doctor said as they made to run.

"Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!" A young woman called out racing out of a shop carrying a thick folder of something.

"Hello. Sorry, bit of a rush." The Doctor paused bouncing on her feet, a long bow in hand, Stella and Martha stopping a bit ahead of him. "There's a sort of thing happening. Fairly important we stop it."

"My God, it's you. It really is you." She said the noticed his look of confusion. "Oh, you don't remember me, do you?"

"Doctor, we haven't got time for this." Martha urged him.

"She's right, the migration has started." Stella pointed out.

"Look, sorry, I've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to me in quite the right order. Gets a bit confusing at times, especially at weddings. I'm rubbish at weddings, especially my own." The Doctor said with an uncomfortable glance at Stella, who looked away avoiding his gaze. It had been like this since they had returned from their stent as a teacher and the matron.

"Oh, my God, of course. You're a time traveler. It hasn't happened to you yet. None of it. It's still in your future." She said in realization.

"What hasn't happened?" The Doctor asked.

"Doctor, please. Twenty minutes to red hatching." Martha started to get panicky.

"It was me. Oh, for God's sake, it was me all along. You got it all from me." She said looking down at the folder in her hands.

"Got what?" The Doctor asked.

"Okay, listen. One day you're going to get stuck in 1969." She told him seriously then gave him the folder. "Make sure you've got this with you. You're going to need it."

"Doctor!" Stella called out

"Yeah, listen, listen, got to dash. Things happening. Well, four things. Well, four things and a lizard." The Doctor said quickly.

"Okay. No worries. On you go. See you around some day." She said with a grin.

"What was your name?" The Doctor asked.

"Sally Sparrow." Sally answered.

"Good to meet you, Sally Sparrow." The Doctor said as another man walked up standing next to Sally who took his hand in hers.

"Goodbye, Doctor." Sally waved.

"Must you gab with everyone?" Stella said in frustration as she grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket pulling him along after Martha.

One minute it was an empty alley, the migration stopped and the Earth saved once again, then the next three very confused time travelers appeared, all of them looking around in surprise.

"What the heck?!" Martha questioned as she spun around in the alley the trio found themselves in suddenly. "Where…what…?"

"Well that leaves out who and when doesn't it?" Stella commented running a hand through her hair.

"1969." The Doctor said looking around. "Same place, just a different time."

"How?" Martha demanded.

"The Weeping Angels, they send you back in time and feed off your potential energy." The Doctor said as he walked out of the alley, the others following.

"Well that's fantastic." Stella grumbled. "You wouldn't happen to have a way of summoning the Tardis to us would you?"

"Nope, but I got something better." The Doctor grinned.

"Oh thank goodness." Martha breathed out.

"I got this folder." The Doctor went on making Martha's smile fall as he opened up and started to go through it, handing them papers when he was done with them.

"So I have to get a job in a shop and Stella's going to be a nightclub singer until we meet some guy named Billy who knows when." Martha said rubbing her head.

"Sounds about right." Stella nodded looking over a transcript. "Well we're going to need a place to stay, clothes, and we'll have to track down theses jobs."

"Does it saw what kind of shop?" Martha asked.

"Not that I can see." Stella shook her head.

"I think I solved our accommodation problems." The Doctor commented as he picked up a discarded paper that was on the ads for apartments page, one of the ads circled in blue marker.

-0-

After they had moved into their newly acquired two room apartment, the girls sharing a room while the Doctor had the other, Stella and Martha spent the next day shopping with money the Doctor had gotten for them one way or another then spent that evening pouring over help wanted ads.

Martha found a job as the files had said in a shop, a candy shop not far from the apartment while Stella received a job in a nightclub called The Cross-Roads as one of the singers. This also worked out well so that someone was always home to watch the Doctor who insisted on trying to make high-tech machines out of house hold objects. He had set three fires, blown the fuses for the entire complex two times, caused the light bulbs to explode, and then there was that incident with the plumbing, which was impressive sine they had only been there for a few weeks.

It was only by the grace of a kindly providence and a lot of money that they weren't thrown out on their ears, but the worst had to be after they had tagged the home under the wallpaper and Stella had driven the Doctor out to the country in a borrowed car so he could test his device that detected time anomalies. She knew she shouldn't have stopped so close to a chicken farm.

The moment the Doctor turned on his device there was an awful row and a cloud of feathers from exploding chickens floated from the farm almost like a sand storm. The farmer had found them rather quickly before they could make a run for it and they were forced to pay for the chickens whose eggs had exploded inside of them killing the chickens.

"I felt a disturbance in the force, as if a brood of chickens cried out as one and then were silenced." Stella said breaking the silence she and the Doctor had fallen into on the ride back.

"Oi, it wasn't my fault, I didn't know it was going to do that." The Doctor pouted still fiddling with the device.

"Well next time let's try out your projects away from any living beings." Stella said with a half-smile.

"You sing again tonight, right?" The Doctor asked, changing the subject.

"Yep. Why?" Stella asked as they pulled back into town. He knew she sang every other night and the nights in between she was on waitress duty, he had even come to a few of her performances, so she wondered why he was asking.

"Thought I might come and see the show, I really enjoy listening to you sing." The Doctor shrugged nervously then noticed Stella stiffen and her grip tightening on the wheel. It had been a while since he had come to hear her perform, she wasn't expecting him to want to come that night, he couldn't come that night with what she had planned to sing. "You alright?"

"I don't think tonight would be good, we get pretty packed." Stella said quickly, glancing away. "Plus you need to work on your machine there or we'll never know when Billy will get here."

"Oh well… it'd be a nice to take a break…" The Doctor shrugged as they pulled up and got out of the car walking into the apartment building. "…and I don't mind standing if I get to hear you sing."

"It's just not a good night Doctor." Stella said with a bit of bite in her voice opening the door of the apartment and walking in straight to her and Martha's room closing her door behind her.

She hated it when he did that, acted like he wanted to see more of her or that he actually cared for her in that way, it was driving her crazy and then he'd go cold again. She didn't know how much more she could take or even if she wanted him to see her that way, she still had her secret, one that would stand between her and the Doctor.

-0-

Stella wore a long sheer high neck backless pleated halter top shift dress of soft blue that tied behind her neck in a bow with a shorter fitted blue dress underneath that reached her knees, her hair was in a bouffant style up do, and silver heels. Her make-up consisted of silver eyeshadow with dark eyeliner that made her eyes pop, bright red lip stick, and dangling silver earrings.

'I fall too Pieces' by Patsy Cline started to play and Stella strolled out onto the dance floor her voice filling the club after the interlude was done.

 _I fall to pieces_

 _Each time I see you again_

 _I fall to pieces_

 _How can I be just your friend_

Stella thought of the Doctor, feeling the song resound in her heart.

 _You want me to act_

 _Like we've never kissed_

 _You want me to forget_

 _Pretend we've never met_

She couldn't push away what she felt for him, it was impossible.

 _And I try and I try_

 _But I haven't yet_

 _You walk by_

 _And I fall to pieces_

She moved with the music as she sang, really getting into the song, putting all of the feelings she had cooped up inside of her since the incident as the Matron and could really feel her heart falling to pieces.

 _I fall to pieces_

 _Each time someone speaks your name_

 _I fall to pieces_

 _Time only adds to the blame_

It was getting harder every day to bare it, or to even try to make sense of the whole thing.

 _You tell me to find someone else to love_

 _Someone who love me too_

 _The way you used to do_

 _But each time I go out with someone new_

 _You walk by and I fall to pieces_

 _You walk by and I fall to pieces_

When she came to the end her eyes found the Doctor's standing at the entrance with Martha directly in front of her. His eyes seemed to bore into hers, searching for something and his face like hers gave away nothing to what he was feeling inside, this was why she hadn't wanted him here tonight, this song hit to close to home.

She gathered herself bowing slightly to the applause before she made her exit to the back stage and down the hall to the dressing room she shared with the other lead singer of the place. All she could think about was that look on the Doctor's face, worried about what he had thought of the song. With a frustrated growl she went into the dressing room where Mari was getting ready for her act.

"That was real good honey." Mari complimented her while she got ready for her act pulling on a red form fitting dress that matched her heels and went great with her shoulder length straight black hair and stormy grey eyes.

"Thanks Mari." Stella said and Mari took notice of her ill and slightly troubled look.

"Are you ok?" Mari asked coming over to her.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just saw someone I didn't want to be here tonight." Stella mumbled quickly changing back into a pair of blue bell bottoms and a white blouse.

"Old boyfriend?" Mari guessed with a sympathetic wince.

"Not exactly, more like hot and cold." Stella sighed.

"And you sang 'I fall to pieces' tonight." Mari let out a low whistle.

"Yep." Stella said bitterly and was just slipping on her shoes when a knock on the door sounded.

"Miss Quinn, we got a gentleman and lady caller here for you. Say they know you." Pop, the back stage man, called through the door.

"I'm coming." Stella took a breath going to the door and opening it and putting on a smile for Martha and the Doctor. "These are some friends of mine, thank you Pops."

"Anytime my dear." Pop, an elderly man with white hair and brown eyes enlarged behind a pair of spectacles wearing a white shirt and a pair of slacks nodded before he wondered off.

"Hey guys." Stella smiled then gestured to Mari. "This is Mari, one of the best swing singers around."

"Do I owe you money?" Mari joked before shaking the Doctor and Martha's hands. "I'd love to chat, but my number's coming up, catch you cats later."

"Flip side Mari." Stella replied making Mari laugh as she walked down the hall onto the stage where her music started up.

"Caught the act, it was very good. You could give Patsy Cline a run for her money." Martha complimented her.

"Thanks, always liked her, she was a great singing partner." Stella said wistfully then looked to the Doctor her smile faltering at his guarded look. "So what brings you two here?"

"It went off, Billy's coming." The Doctor said shortly as he showed her the device which was going off.

"Where?" Stella asked, practically tasting his tenseness.

"The alley just outside the club actually." The Doctor replied as Stella grabbed her blue blazer. "Come on."

"Doctor, about the song…" Stella tried.

"It was nice, very well done." The Doctor cut her off quickening his pace out the door into the alley. The truth was he didn't know what to make of the song, it was so close to what was going on between he and Stella that he wondered if it was how she was feeling as well, but he was too scared to ask, not knowing what the answer might be.

"What's wrong with him?" Martha asked, but Stella shook her head as they too went out into the alley just as Billy appeared leaning against the wall panting hard, then slid down to the ground.

"Welcome." The Doctor gained his attention.

"Where am I?" Billy gasped out looking to the three of them.

"1969. Not bad, as it goes. You've got the moon landing to look forward to." The Doctor sat down next to him.

"Oh, the moon landing's brilliant. We went four times, back when we had transport." Martha smarted off.

"Working on it." The Doctor replied.

"How did I get here?" Billy asked, breathing hard.

"The same way we did. The touch of an angel. Same one, probably, since you ended up in the same year." The Doctor said as Billy tried to stand up.

"No, no. No, no, no, don't get up. Time travel without a capsule. Nasty. Catch your breath." Stella made him sit back down as she checked him over. "Don't go swimming for half an hour."

"I don't…I can't…" Billy tried.

"Fascinating race, the Weeping Angels. The only psychopaths in the universe to kill you nicely." The Doctor started to explain. "No mess, no fuss, they just zap you into the past and let you live to death. The rest of your life used up and blown away in the blink of an eye. You die in the past, and in the present they consume the energy of all the days you might have had. All your stolen moments. They're creatures of the abstract. They live off potential energy."

"What in God's name are you talking about?" Billy snapped.

"Trust me. Just nod when he stops for breath or ask Stella for the translation." Martha said nodding to Stella who waved with a smile.

"Tracked you down with this. This is my timey-wimey detector." The Doctor said holding up his device. "It goes ding when there's stuff. Also, it can boil an egg at thirty paces, whether you want it to or not, actually, so I've learned to stay away from hens. It's not pretty when they blow."

"That poor poultry." Stella shook her head, trying to get a hint of amusement out of the Doctor, but only Martha sniggered, the Doctor made no acknowledgement.

"I don't understand. Where am I?" Billy asked.

"1969, like he says." Martha replied.

"Normally, I'd offer you a lift home, but somebody nicked my motor. So I need you to take a message to Sally Sparrow." The Doctor said then looked regretful. "And I'm sorry, Billy. I am very, very sorry. It's going to take you a while."

They spent the rest of the night telling Billy what he needed to know then got him set up with plenty of cash to get his life started. Soon after they left Billy the Tardis appeared in their apartment much to Martha's relief, the tension between the Doctor and Stella could have been cut with a knife.

-0-

The Tardis was so drained by the recent activity that the Doctor decided on a pit stop in Cardiff, a rather bumpy ride, especially with the girls getting dressed in their regular clothes while they were traveling. The Tardis finally landed allowing the travelers to regain their balance. The Doctor rushed to the console while Stella and Martha walked into the large room from their own rooms.

"Where are we?" Stella asked as she watched the Doctor work.

"Cardiff." The Doctor answered as he ran around the console, smiling brightly as he went.

"Cardiff?" Martha echoed, sharing a confused look with Stella.

"Ah, but the thing about Cardiff, it's built on a rift in time and space." The Doctor said.

"You mean like California and the San Andreas Fault?" Stella asked cocking her head to the side.

"Right, but the rift bleeds energy." The Doctor said. "Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel."

"So it's a pit stop." Martha said.

"Exactly." The Doctor nodded.

"Neat. Jack lives around here, maybe I'll pop in while you're fueling and say hi." Stella commented.

"Who's Jack?" Martha asked.

"My best friend." Stella replied. "You'd like him, always up to something and good for a laugh, but he is a flirt, let me warn you."

"Is he handsome?" Martha asked.

"Oh very much so." Stella nodded with a grin.

"Not enough time." The Doctor said quickly, feeling a pang of jealousy.

Throughout 1969 and on they still avoided the subject of their time together when they were not themselves, both of them unsure of the whole ordeal and what had happened between the two of them. Then it started to fester between them, everything the other did put under scrutiny, both of the looking for hidden meaning to the others actions. Martha had tried to get them to talk it out, tried a lot, but they were both very stubborn people when it came to relationships.

"What? Why not? How long will this take?" Stella asked, frowning in disappointment.

"Should only take twenty seconds. The rift's been active." The Doctor said shortly.

"Wait a minute. They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago." Martha said. "Was that you?"

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen." The Doctor grimaced. "A long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then."

"You should have seen his ears." Stella commented with a grin.

"Still better than frizzy hair." The Doctor shot her a playful glare as she stuck her tongue out at him.

Martha had noticed that there were instances like this where they almost seemed to get back to normal, but then something would happen to bring the tension back.

"Finito." The Doctor said. "All powered up."

"Well couldn't you just wait here for a bit, I mean I haven't seen Jack in…" Stella trailed off seeing the Doctor's face change as he looked to the scanner. "Something wrong?"

"Nope." He replied as he set the time rotor moving and something went bang on the console as the whole of the TARDIS started to shake.

"Whoa! What's that?" Martha asked as they all hung on.

"We're accelerating into the future. The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What?" The Doctor panicked as he worked the console. "The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible."

"Why? What happens then?" Stella asked as she tried to help.

"We're going to the end of the universe." The Doctor answered.

"Oh, major league taboo." Stella breathed out wide eyed.

"Doctor!" Stella heard faintly from outside the TARDIS he hear cocking to the side.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Stella asked uncertainly, but no one answered then the ship gave one last shudder before everything went still.

"Well, we've landed." The Doctor said breaking the silence.

"So what's out there?" Martha asked.

"I don't know." The Doctor replied.

"Say that again." Martha said sharing a surprised look with Stella. "That's rare."

"It really is the end of the universe." Stella commented with a raised eyebrow.

"Not even the Time Lords came this far. We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go." The Doctor said looking at them both.

"You're completely right, this is a big mistake." Stella nodded then caught his eyes, a small grin forming on her lips. "Race you outside." The Doctor grinned back before they all darted for the doors pulling it open to reveal a quarry like landscape. "Well that's a bit…disappointing."

"Oh my God!" Martha said spotting Jack lying on the ground not far from the TARDIS.

"Would you look at that?" Stella said before she let out a soft whistle as Martha went into doctor mode. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Can't get a pulse. Hold on. You've got that medical kit thing." Martha ran back into the TARDIS.

"Should be waking up soon." Stella said with a shrug as they stood over him nudging him with the tip of her foot. "He never did tell me how he became all immortal all the sudden, I don't think he even knows, any ideas?"

"Just one." The Doctor said looking down at him. "Hello again, oh, I'm sorry."

"Here we go." Martha returned with the medical kit. "Get out of the way. It's a bit odd, though. Not very hundred trillion. That coat's more like World War Two."

"I think he came with us." The Doctor said.

"How do you mean, from Earth?" Martha asked.

"Must have been clinging to the outside of the Tardis all the way through the vortex." The Doctor said. "Well, that's very him."

"What, do you know him?" Martha asked them.

"Yeah, he's my friend Jack, went to the Time Agent Academy together before we were both kicked out." Stella replied. "His fault entirely…well mostly…well half and half…but it was his idea."

Like Stella had said, they met in class at the Academy and they had hit it off right away, they loved the same things, had a similar sense of humor, and not to mention both had their physical appeals. They hung out for a while taking classes together and soon, very soon in fact, Jack asked her out on a date. Before the date had even started Jack made a move on her to test the waters so to speak.

He pulled her into a deep kiss backing her up against a nearby wall. He angled his mouth over hers, his tongue sliding along her lips begging for entrance which she allowed, then slowly they pulled apart starring deeply into each other's eyes, what they were both feeling reflected in the other's eyes.

"Sorry, doesn't do anything for me." Stella had said, shaking her head.

"Yeah…want to go get some pizza or something?" Jack had asked backing off, but offering her his arm. There may not have been romantic sparks, but there were definitely some platonic sparks.

"Sounds good." Stella had smiled looping her arm through his as they headed off down the street. They ended up becoming best friends even after the Academy booted them for their prankster ways, but it turned out that wasn't the only reason they were booted, not that they didn't find that out till later on.

"He was a friend of mine to, used to travel with me, back in the old days." The Doctor added, breaking Stella out of her memories.

"But he's…I'm sorry, there's no heartbeat. There's nothing. He's dead." Martha said sadly. "I'm so sor…AHH!" Jack gasped and grabbed Martha who screamed before controlling herself and helping him sit up. "Oh, so much for me. It's all right. Just breathe deep. I've got you."

"Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" Jack looked to her, that ever present glint in his eye.

"Martha Jones." Martha replied.

"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones." Jack smirked.

"Oh, don't start." The Doctor said sternly.

"I was only saying hello." Jack defended himself.

"Yeah, sure." Stella rolled her eyes. "You were flirting."

"I don't mind." Martha said as she helped Jack stand up.

"No one ever does." Stella shook her head.

"Hey Stella." Jack smiled then pulled her into the tight hug much to the Doctor's discomfort. Jack whirled her around kissing her cheek as she laughed.

"Hello Jack, how have you been?" She asked as they pulled apart although their arms remained around each other.

"Same old." He shrugged and ruffled her hair playfully making her out as she pushed his hand away. "I see you're traveling with the Doctor now."

"Yeah, got stranded and needed a lift, sort of just escalated from there." Stella said a she fixed her hair. The Doctor walked up next to her standing close to Stella, but not touching her making Jack raise an eyebrow at the familiar scene.

"Doctor." Jack nodded.

"Captain." The Doctor replied.

"Good to see you." Jack said.

"And you, same as ever." The Doctor looked him over. "Although, have you had work done?"

"You can talk." Jack scoffed.

"Oh yes, the face." The Doctor said rubbing his jaw. "Regeneration. How did you know this was me?"

"The police box kind of gives it away." Jack pointed out. "I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me."

"Did I? Busy life. Moving on." The Doctor replied shortly getting a look from Stella.

"Just got to ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf. I saw the list of the dead. It said Rose Tyler…" Jack trailed off.

"Oh, no! Sorry, she's alive." The Doctor assured him.

"You're kidding." Jack smiled.

"Parallel world, safe and sound. And Mickey, and her mother." The Doctor confirmed.

"Oh, yes!" Jack hugged the Doctor.

"Good old Rose." Martha grumbled as Stella flung her arm around her shoulders giving her a comforting hug.

"Rose was pretty amazing, but Martha Jones is pretty amazing to if you hadn't noticed." Stella commented making Martha smile.

-0-

After introductions Jack, Stella, Martha, and the Doctor, began their walk through some scrubland in a barren dark landscape with freezing winds. It was completely dead with no visible sign of life anywhere. As they went on Jack told them what had happened after the battle at Canary Warf.

"So there I was, stranded in the year two hundred one hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me. But I had this…" Jack held up his vortex manipulator. "I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator, I even taught Stella how to use one at the academy. He's not the only one who can time travel."

"Oh, excuse me. That is not time travel. It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper." The Doctor retorted.

"Oh ho. Boys and their toys." Martha scoffed.

"I liked my hopper up until it got a flat." Stella commented.

"What happened?" Jack asked.

"The stupid thing burned out on me." Stella said digging it out of her pocket and showing it to him.

"This was tampered with to burn out." Jack commented.

"I figured that out." Stella scoffed. "I even know who did it, but that is not important right now, I believe you were telling a story Captain."

"Right, so I bounced. I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out like Stella's, so it was useless." Jack replied still looking over her manipulator.

"Told you." The Doctor smirked.

"I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me." Jack told him tossing the manipulator back to Stella.

"But that makes you more than one hundred years old." Martha commented.

"And looking good, don't you think?" Jack said smugly.

"Meh." Stella made a so so motion to which Jack replied by giving her a noogie. "Jack!"

"So I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew you'd come back to refuel." Jack said after he released a glaring Stella who was trying to fix her hair once again. "Until finally I get a signal on this detecting you and here we are."

"But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?" Stella looked to the Doctor.

"I was busy." The Doctor replied bluntly making Stella's eyebrows shoot up.

"Busy?" Stella echoed indignantly.

"Is that what happens, though, seriously? Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?" Martha questioned sarcastically.

"Not if you're blonde." Jack scoffed.

"Oh, she was blonde? Oh, what a surprise!" Martha rolled her eyes as Stella reached up tugging self-consciously on the end of one of her brunette strands.

"You two! We're at the end of the universe, all right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy blogging! Come on." The Doctor said as he took Stella's hand from her hair giving it a quick squeeze surprising her before he released it and walked ahead the others following, this not going unnoticed by Jack nor Martha though they made no comment.

Stella herself was not sure how to deal with those little moments when it seemed the Doctor was making romantic advances, but they would pass so quickly that it left her more confused than ever. Then there was the question of even wanting to peruse a relationship with the Doctor, there were things, important things, that he didn't know about her and if he did decide to approach her with romantic intentions how would she tell him?

"Stella, you ok?" Jack asked falling into step beside her, Martha and the Doctor taking the lead.

"I'm fine Jack." Stella tried to force a smile.

"I know you better than that." Jack shot her a look stepping closer to her keeping his voice low so they wouldn't be overheard.

"I…there…" Stella let out a breath and then told him everything, trying not to cry. Jack was the only one that knew her greatest secret, her shame, and her anger. "What am I going to do Jack? I can't tell him."

"Stella, he'll understand and…and if he cares for you as much as it seems he does then he won't care, he'll still want to be with you." Jack said wrapping his arm around her holding her close.

"What do you mean?" Stella looked to him.

"I'm an expert when it comes to this sort of thing and let me tell you, I have never received an angrier jealous look than the one the Doctor is shooting me over his shoulder non to subtly." Jack leaned down whispering in her ear and glancing over, she saw the Doctor's dark look directed at Jack before it quickly shot forward again. Jack gave her a kiss on the cheek, loving how riled up the Doctor seemed to get. "Don't worry, it'll all work out, you'll see."

"You two going to drag your feet the whole way or what?" The Doctor called out over his shoulder. "What are you two gabbing about anyway?"

"Oh nothing, just catching up on old times and what not." Jack winked to the Doctor, tightening his arm around Stella pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Stella smiled up at him feeling very much better after talking with Jack.

"Well try and keep up." The Doctor grumbled with a glare as they walked for a time across the barren landscape taking in the ink black sky until they came to a canyon. They looked down over a cliff onto a high tech construction of some kind built into the canyon walls.

"Is that a city?" Martha asked.

"A city or a hive, or a nest, or a conglomeration. Like it was grown. But look, there. That's like pathways, roads? Must have been some sort of life, long ago." The Doctor replied.

"What killed it?" Martha asked.

"Time. Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone." The Doctor answered. "This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing."

"They must have an atmospheric shell. We should be frozen to death." Jack said as they gazed up at the starless sky.

"Well, Martha and I, maybe." The Doctor looked from the sky to Jack and Stella, who were still standing to close to each other for his liking, Jack holding Stella's hand swinging it back and forth. "Not so sure about you, Jack or even you Stella."

"Even a cyborg has their limits." Stella replied.

"What about the people? Does no one survive?" Martha asked.

"I suppose we have to hope life will find a way." The Doctor replied, still starring at Jack and Stella's joined hands.

"Well, he's not doing too bad." Jack pointed to a man running, dashing through the city, pursued by a savage tribe.

"Human!" One of the savage called out.

"I don't think he's doing as good as you think." Stella said as she tensed.

"Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?" The Doctor said. "Come on!"

The Doctor, Stella, Jack and Martha ran to help as fast as they could toward the young man, tough what their plan was going to be when they got to him was anyone's guess.

"Oh, I've missed this." Jack laughed as they met up with the running man, Jack catching him. "I've got you."

"They're coming! They're coming!" The man said in a panic as Jack aimed a revolver at the tribe people.

"Jack, don't you dare!" The Doctor warned and with a groan Jack fired into the air, and the noise stopped the tribe in its tracks.

"What the hell are they?" Martha questioned.

"There's more of them. We've got to keep going." The man said.

"I've got a ship nearby. It's safe. It's not far, it's over there." The Doctor said turning to the cliff where more tribesmen appear. "Or maybe not."

"Ok, plan B?" Stella asked. "Anyone? Open to suggestions here."

"We're close to the silo. If we get to the silo, then we're safe." The man said.

"Silo?" The Doctor asked.

"Silo." Jack answered.

"Silo for me." Martha seconded.

"Silo it is." Stella nodded before they tore out of their away from the crazed tribe until they came to the silo gates, the man shouting whilst running.

"It's the Futurekind! Open the gate!" The man said as they skidded to a stop at the gate.

"Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!" The guard ordered much to the confusion of the others.

"Show him your teeth." The man urged them doing so himself. The others grimace, displaying their chiseled incisors.

"Human! Let them in! Let them in!" The guard ordered and the metal gates were opened allowing them in. "Close! Close! Close!"

Another guard fired his machine gun at the ground in front of the tribe as they get too close.

"Humans. Humani. Make feast." The chieftain snarled.

"Go back to where you came from. I said, go back. Back!" The guard ordered firing again.

"Oh, don't tell him to put his gun down." Jack scoffed.

"He's not my responsibility." The Doctor replied.

"And I am? Huh, that makes a change." Jack said sarcastically.

"Kind watch you. Kind hungry." The tribe back away then leave.

"Thanks for that." The Doctor said to the guards.

"Right." The Guard nodded. "Let's get you inside."

"My name is Padra Toc Shafe Cane. Tell me. Just tell me, can you take me to Utopia?" Padra asked the guard desperately.

"Oh yes, sir. Yes, I can." The guard nodded before leading them inside.

"It looks like a box, a big blue box. I'm sorry, but I really need it back. It's stuck out there." The Doctor explained to one of the guards as they walked through the industrial silo.

"I'm sorry, but my family were heading for the silo." Padra cut in. "Did they get here? My mother is Kistane Shafe Cane. My brother's name is Beltone."

"The computers are down but you can check the paperwork. Creet! Passenger needs help." The guard called out and a young boy appeared with a clipboard. Padra quickly walked over to him.

"Right. What do you need?" Creet asked Padra who gave him the information on his family.

"A blue box, you said." Atillo prompted the Doctor.

"Big, tall, wooden. Says Police." The Doctor nodded.

"We're driving out for the last water collection. I'll see what I can do." Atillo replied.

"Thank you." The Doctor said.

"Come on." Creet told them.

"Sorry, but how old are you?" Martha asked Creet.

"Old enough to work." Creet replied smartly.

"You tell her kid." Stella laughed.

"This way." Creet said smiled. Stella looked to a wall where people had put pictures of their loved ones as they slept on the floor. She noticed some looks she was getting because of the glowing lines that accented her body. "It's been a long time since anyone's seen a cyborg, sorry for the starring miss."

"It's alright, I'm used to it." Stella replied.

"Kistane Shafe Cane. Kistane Shafe Cane. Kistane and Biltone Shafe Cane? We're looking for a Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane." Creet called out over and over again.

"The Shafe Canes, anyone? Kistane from Red Force Five? My name's Padra." Padra called out as well his eyes desperately searching for his family.

"Anyone? Kistane and Beltone Shafe Cane? Anyone know the Shafe Cane family? Anyone called Shafe Cane?" Creet continued to page.

"It's like a refugee camp." Martha said.

"That's because it is." Stella replied shoving her hands into her pockets.

"Stinking." Jack scrunched up his nose getting a dark look from the person standing nearby. "Oh, sorry. No offence. Not you."

"Don't you see that? The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, you might have spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas, and another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape." The Doctor smiled. "The fundamental humans."

"Kistane Shafe Cane." Creet continued.

"End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word. Indomitable! Ha!" The Doctor laughed wrapping his arm around Stella in excitement.

"Is there a Kistane Shafe Cane?" Creet said and a woman stood up.

"That's me." The woman said.

"Mother?" Padra breathed out.

"Oh, my God. Padra." Kistane called out as they ran for each other hugging tightly.

"It's not all bad news." Martha smiled at the scene as a young man stood up and Jack shook his hand.

"Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?" Jack asked flirtatiously.

"Stop it." Stella shot him a look as he tried to smile innocently.

"Give me a hand with this." The Doctor told him as he tried to open a door. "It's half deadlocked. I need you to overwrite the code. Let's find out where we are."

"Have you always been like that, even before you met me?" Stella rolled her eyes at him.

"What? Charming? Handsome? Sauvé?" Jack smirked.

"Flirty." Stella deadpanned.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Jack replied as Stella hummed disbelievingly.

"Step aside boys." Stella moved them over the grabbed the door forcing it open. "Never send in a man to do a woman's job.

"Cute." Jack rolled his eyes as they looked through the door which turned out to be part way up a giant rocket silo, the Doctor nearly fell losing his footing as he peered in. "Gotcha."

"Thanks." The Doctor nodded to him.

"How did you cope without me?" Jack asked him.

"Well he does have me and Martha around to keep him out of trouble." Stella scoffed looking slightly offended.

"And how's that going?" Jack asked.

"Shut up, he's alive isn't he?" Stella stuck her tongue out at him.

"Maybe later." Jack winked at her making her mock glare.

"Oi!" The Doctor snapped glaring at Jack.

"She started it." Jack pointed at Stella.

"Did not." Stella replied walking over to the door.

"Now that is what I call a rocket." Martha said as she and Stella took a turn looking through the door, Stella flinching back at the heat.

"They're not refugees, they're passengers." The Doctor said.

"He said they were going to Utopia." Martha commented.

"The perfect place. Hundred trillion years, it's the same old dream." The Doctor said looking over the rocket. "You recognize those engines?"

"Nope." Jack replied. "Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though."

"You're telling me." Stella said fanning herself as they shut the door again.

"Boiling, but if the universe is falling apart, what does Utopia mean?" The Doctor questioned.

"The Doctor? And the Cyborg?" An old man asked as he ran up to them.

"That's me." The Doctor smiled.

"And me." Stella nodded.

"Good! Good! Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good." The old man repeatedly said with a bright smile.

"It's good apparently." The Doctor said as the old man dragged him away grabbing Stella's hand so she was being pulled along as well as the others following.

-0-

They were pulled into a large workroom/lab filled to the brim with all sorts of technology and junk, things they had never seen the like before. Yana took the Doctor to various pieces of equipment straight away along with Stella.

"Chan welcome tho." Chantho smiled at them.

"Now, this is the gravitissimal accelerator. It's past its best but it works." Yana explained everything.

"Chan welcome tho." Chantho said as the others arrived.

"And over here is the footprint impellor system. Now, do you know anything about end time gravity…?" Yana went on.

"Hello. Who are you?" Martha asked Chantho.

"Chan Chantho tho. " She answered.

"But we can't get it to harmonize." Yana said as the Doctor slipped his glasses on.

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack smiled at Chantho.

"Stop it." The Doctor told Jack with a look.

"Can't I say hello to anyone?" Jack scoffed.

"No." Stella deadpanned. "For as long as I've known you, you never stopped at hello."

"Chan I do not protest tho." Chantho commented.

"Maybe later, Blue." Jack winked at her before moving over to Yana, the Doctor, and Stella. "So, what have we got here?"

"And all this feeds into the rocket?" The Doctor asked Yana.

"Yeah, except without a stable footprint, you see, we're unable to achieve escape velocity. If only we could harmonize the five impact patterns and unify them, well, we might yet make it. What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?" Yana looked hopefully to the Doctor.

"Well, er, basically, sort of, not a clue." The Doctor replied then looked to Stella. "Stella?"

"Sorry, this is something different, completely new to me." Stella said looking over the system.

"Nothing?" Yana asked, his hope waning.

"We're not from around these parts. We've never seen a system like it." The Doctor said. "Sorry."

"No, no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help." Yana said as Martha walked over to a corner with chairs, a table and a drink machine, Martha pulled a transparent container from Jack's backpack containing a hand.

"Oh, my God. You've got a hand? A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar in your bag." Martha stuttered out in shock looking up at the others.

"But that, that, that's my hand." The Doctor said, smiling brightly as he went over and sat down in front of the container looking it over.

"I said I had a Doctor detector." Jack said, everyone gathering around, Stella sitting next to the Doctor also looking at the hand.

"Chan is this a tradition amongst your people tho?" Chantho asked.

"Not on my street. What do you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them." Martha pointed out.

"Long story. I lost my hand Christmas Day, in a swordfight." The Doctor explained.

"What? And you grew another hand?" Martha said looking from his hands to the one in the container.

"Er, yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah. Hello." He waved his replacement hand at her.

"Neat." Stella commented tapping the container.

"Might I ask, what species are you?" Yana asked the Doctor.

"Time Lord, last of. Heard of them? Legend or anything? Not even a myth?" The Doctor asked getting no recognition from either Yana or Chantho. "Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling."

"Chan it is said that I am the last of my species too tho." Chantho said in empathy.

"Sorry, what was your name?" The Doctor asked Chantho.

"My assistant and good friend, Chantho. A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassairo, before we took refuge." Yana answered for her.

"The city outside, that was yours?" Stella asked.

"Chan the conglomeration died tho." Chantho said with a nod.

"Conglomeration. That's what I said." The Doctor smiled.

"You're supposed to say sorry." Stella thumped him in the chest.

"Oh, yes. Sorry." The Doctor said seriously.

"Chan most grateful tho." Chantho nodded.

"You grew another hand?" Martha was still in shock.

"Hello, again. It's fine. Look, really, it's me." The Doctor took her hand in his.

"All this time and you're still full of surprises." Martha said with a smile.

"Chan you are most unusual tho." Chantho commented.

"Well…" The Doctor trailed off.

"So what about those things outside? The Beastie Boys. What are they?" Jack questioned.

"We call them the Futurekind, which is a myth in itself, but it's feared they are what we will become, unless we reach Utopia." Yana answered.

"And Utopia is?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, every human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?" Yana looked at him incredulously.

"Bit of a hermit." The Doctor answered with a shrug.

"A hermit with friends?" Yana scoffed.

"Hermits United. We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It's good fun, for a hermit." The Doctor said as Stella bit her lip trying not to laugh. "So, er, Utopia?"

"The call came from across the stars, over and over again." Yana showed them a display on the gravitational field navigation system. "Come to Utopia. Originating from that point."

"Where is that?" Stella asked looking over the map.

"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness, out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs, calling us in." Yana replied. "The last of the humans scattered across the night."

"What do you think's out there?" The Doctor asked.

"We can't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself." Yana told them. "Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?"

"Oh, yes." The Doctor said, not noticing Yana becoming distracted. "And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic. That's a good sign someone's out there. And that's, oh, that's a navigation matrix. So you can fly without stars to guide you."

"Professor?" Stella called out noticing his spaced out look. "Professor? Professor."

"I, er, ahem, right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave, thank you." Yana waved them off.

"You all right?" Stella asked him in concern.

"Yes, I'm fine. And busy." Yana replied.

"Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it? This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working." The Doctor said.

"We'll find a way." Yana replied.

"You're stuck on this planet. And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're going to fly." The Doctor went on.

"Well, it's better to let them live in hope." Yana said.

"Quite right, too. And I must say, Professor er, what was it?" The Doctor asked.

"Yana." Yana replied.

"Professor Yana. This new science is well beyond me and Stella, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So, I wonder, what would happen if we did this?" The Doctor sonics the end of a cable as Stella pulled it causing power to surge through the machines.

"Chan it's working tho!" Chantho gasped.

"But how did you do that?" Yana looked on in awe.

"Oh, we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you." The Doctor smiled as he wrapped an arm around Stella, surprising her a bit, but she tried to hide it.

"We're brilliant." Stella smiled wrapping her arm around him both of them grinning wildly.

-0-

The Doctor and Stella were working the machine getting it into top shape for the takeoff when Stella started to sniff around before looking to the wire she was holding. She took a tentative sniff then looked at it in surprise.

"Doctor, smell this." Stella said holding up the wire and the Doctor did so.

"Is this?" The Doctor looked to Yana along with Stella.

"Yes, gluten extract. Binds the neutralino map together." Yana replied.

"That's food. You've built this system out of food and string and staples?" The Doctor said. "Professor Yana, you're a genius."

"Says the man who made it work." Yana waved off the praise.

"Oh, it's easy coming in at the end, but you're stellar. This is, this is magnificent. And I don't often say that because, well, because of me." The Doctor rattled off.

"It's true, if you get a compliment from him you know you did really good." Stella nodded as she worked.

"Well, even my title is an affectation. There hasn't been such a thing as a university for over a thousand years. I've spent my life going from one refugee ship to another." Yana said.

"If you'd been born in a different time, you'd be revered. I mean it. Throughout the galaxies." The Doctor said.

"Oh, those damned galaxies. They had to go and collapse. Some admiration would have been nice. Yes, just a little, just once." Yana said wistfully.

"Well, you've got it now." The Doctor said.

"He's right, you're amazing." Stella added.

"But that footprint engine thing. You can't activate it from onboard." The Doctor pointed out.

"It's got to be from here." Stella said looking at Yana. "You're staying behind."

"With Chantho. She won't leave without me. Simply refuses." Yana said with a smile.

"You'd give your life so they could fly." The Doctor breathed out.

"Oh, I think I'm a little too old for Utopia." Yana waved him off. "Time I had some sleep."

"Professor, tell the Doctor we've found his blue box." Atillo said over the comm.

"Ah!" The Doctor leapt to his feet looking at the TARDIS on the monitor.

"Doctor?" Jack looked to him.

"Professor, it's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out." The Doctor smiled and a little later, the Tardis was in the laboratory, the Doctor dragging a power cable out of it. "Extra power. Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting?"

"Jack, you're in charge of the retro feeds." Stella called out as she worked on her end.

"Oh, am I glad to see that thing." Martha said as she and Chantho walked into the room.

"Chan Professor, are you all right tho?" Chantho asked in concern.

"Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Just get on with it." Yana waved her off.

"Connect those circuits into the spar, same as that last lot." Jack told Martha. "But quicker."

"Ooo, yes, sir." Martha replied going to work.

"You don't have to keep working." Stella said to Yana gently placing a hand on his shoulder, noticing how tired he looked. "We can handle it."

"It's just a headache. It's just, just noise inside my head, Doctor. Constant noise inside my head." Yana told them as the Doctor stepped up to him and Stella.

"What sort of noise?" The Doctor asked.

"It's the sound of drums." Yana answered and the Doctor tensed. "More and more, as though it's getting closer."

"When did it start?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, I've had it all my life. Every waking hour." Yana lamented. "Still, no rest for the wicked."

"Professor. Systems are down. Professor, are you getting me?" Atillo called out over the comm and Yana went to the monitor.

"I'm here! We're ready!" Yana told him. "Now all you need to do is connect the couplings, then we can launch."Atillo's face disappeared from the screen. "God sake! This equipment. Needs rebooting all the time."

"Anything I can do? I've finished that lot." Martha said to Yana.

"Yes, if you could. Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes." Yana pointed to the keyboard.

"Certainly, sir. Just don't ask me to do shorthand." Martha commented.

"Right." Yana replied as Atillo's face returned.

"Are you still there?" Atillo asked.

"Ah, present and correct. Send your man inside." Yana replied. "We'll keep the levels down from here."

Atillo opened a heavy door for a man in protective gear went inside.

"He's inside. And good luck to him." Atillo said.

"Captain, keep the dials below the red." Yana ordered.

"Where is that room?" The Doctor asked.

"It's underneath the rocket. Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation." Yana told him.

"Stet? Never heard of it." The Doctor said.

"You wouldn't want to." Yana replied. "But it's safe enough, if we can hold the radiation back from here."

They watched the monitor showing the man connecting up equipment then an alarm sounded.

"It's rising. Naught point two. Keep it level!" Yana ordered.

"Yes, sir." Jack said doing as he was told.

"Chan we're losing power tho!" Chantho said.

"Radiation's rising!" The Doctor read off.

"We've lost control!" Stella ground out angrily.

"The chamber's going to flood." Yana said.

"Jack, override the vents!" The Doctor ordered.

"Atillo, get that man out now!" Stella ordered over the comm.

"Get out! Get out of there! Jate!" She heard Atillo call out over the comm as Jack pulled out two power cables.

"We can jump start the override." Jack said.

"Don't! It's going to flare!" The Doctor tried to warn him, but it was too late, power surged through Jack as he held the live ends together electrocuting him. He fell to the ground dead…again.

"Jate, get out of there! Get out!" Atillo continued, but Jate's organic molecules disintegrate, and the suit fell to the floor. "No!"

"I've got him." Martha said going to Jack's side.

"Chan don't touch the cables tho." Chantho kicked the wires away.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." Yana lamented.

"The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?" The Doctor asked as Martha gave Jack mouth to mouth resuscitation.

"Without the couplings, the engines will never start. It was all for nothing." Yana said sadly.

"Oh, I don't know. Martha, leave him." The Doctor told her.

"You've got to let me try." Martha said as she went on trying to revive Jack.

"Come on, come on, just listen to me. Now leave him alone." The Doctor said as Stella pulled her away. "It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?"

"Yes." Yana nodded.

"Well…" The Doctor trailed off and Jack gasped as he returned to life…again. "I think I've got just the man."

"Was someone kissing me?" Jack asked.

"Normally I would make a suggestion, but there is not a person place or thing that I can think of that you would find appalling to have been kissing." Stella commented and Jack winked at her with a smirk in reply. Stella rolled her eyes offering him a hand and pulling him up. "Come on Captain, we've got a job for you."

-0-

The Doctor and Jack run into the radiation room.

"Lieutenant, get on board the rocket! I promise you're going to fly." The Doctor said to Atillo.

"The chamber's flooded." Atillo said.

"Trust me. We've found a way of tripping the system. Run!" The Doctor told him and Atillo ran as Jack took off his shirt. "What are you taking your clothes off for?"

"I'm going in." Jack replied.

"Well, by the looks of it, I'd say the stet radiation doesn't affect clothing, only flesh." The Doctor pointed out.

"Well, I look good though." Jack smirked. "How long have you known?"

"Ever since I ran away from you. Good luck." The Doctor replied and Jack went inside the radiation chamber continuing connecting things up.

-0-

Martha rebooted the monitor by typing Atillo into a hiragona keyboard.

"We lost picture when that thing flared up. Doctor, are you there?" Martha called out through the comm.

"Receiving, yeah. He's inside." The Doctor answered.

"And still alive?" Martha asked.

"Oh, yes." The Doctor replied.

"But he should evaporate. What sort of a man is he?" Yana looked to the girls.

"I've only just met him. The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up." Martha replied with a shrug.

"You make us sound like stray dogs." Stella muttered.

"Maybe we are." Martha replied.

"He travels in time?" Yana questioned distractedly.

"Don't ask me to explain it. That's a Tardis, that box thing. The sports car of time travel, he says." Martha replied.

-0-

"When did you first realize?" The Doctor asked Jack through the door.

"Earth, 1892. Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart." Jack replied. "Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, starvation, a stray javelin."

"I said I was sorry for that one." Stella said over the comm.

"Still not sure you did it on accident; the blonde I was talking to was pretty." Jack said.

"Pretty stupid." Stella replied.

"It's ok to be jealous Stella." Jack teased.

"Please." Stella scoffed rolling her eyes.

"Anyway, in the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew." Jack said looking to the Doctor.

"That's why I left you behind. It's not easy even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong." The Doctor replied.

"Thanks." Jack smirked.

"You are. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts." The Doctor explained. "You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the Tardis reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you."

"So what you're saying is that you're, er, prejudiced?" Jack said moving on to the next control.

"I never thought of it like that." The Doctor said.

"Shame on you." Jack said.

"Yeah." The Doctor smiled a bit.

"Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life." Jack went on. "What happened?"

"Rose." The Doctor replied.

"I thought you'd sent her back home." Jack said.

"She came back. Opened the heart of the Tardis and absorbed the time vortex itself." The Doctor told him.

"What does that mean, exactly?" Jack asked.

"No one's ever mean to have that power." The Doctor replied. "If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. But she was human. Everything she did was so human. She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."

"Do you think she could change me back?" Jack asked.

"I took the power out of her." The Doctor replied. "She's gone, Jack. She's not just living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. The walls have closed."

"I'm sorry." Jack said.

"Yeah." The Doctor breathed out.

"I went back to her estate, in the nineties, just once or twice. Watched her growing up. Never said hello. Timelines and all that." Jack admitted.

"Do you want to die?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, this one's a little stuck." Jack said pulling on one of the controls.

"Jack?" The Doctor pressed.

"I thought I did. I don't know. But this lot. You see them out here surviving, and that's fantastic." Jack replied shaking his head.

"You might be out there, somewhere." The Doctor commented.

"I could go meet myself." Jack said.

"Well, the only man you're ever going to be happy with." The Doctor jibed.

"This new regeneration, it's kind of cheeky." Jack said with a smirk.

"Hmm." The Doctor hummed.

"And Stella, what's the story there? You guys seem to be a little cozy." Jack commented.

"She's…I don't know…." The Doctor trailed off.

"That's a first." Jack scoffed.

"It's complicated, it's like I know her, but then I don't. She's lived almost as long as I have, seen as much as I have, and done as much, but it doesn't seem to weigh her down. She always has a sort of happiness around her despite everything that she's been through." The Doctor commented smiling a little as he thought of her.

"Oh you got it bad." Jack said.

"I think so." The Doctor muttered.

"You better treat her right, she's my friend practically my sister and it would not be good for you if you hurt her." Jack said seriously. "No amount of regeneration would save you."

"You guys know you're on comm. right?" Stella said over the comm which went silent, her face beat red before she looked to Martha covering the comm. "Martha…I…I'm sorry, I didn't…"

"You know, it's weird. I thought I'd be angry or sad when it finally came out, but you know what? I'm happy, I really am happy for you both. You two deserve some happiness in your lives." Martha smiled at Stella who smiled back in relief as the boys got back to work on the controls. "Plus I never understand half the things he says."

"When I don't understand I just smile and nod, then look it up later." Stella shrugged then noticed Yana with tears in his eyes. "Professor, are you ok?"

"What's wrong?" Martha asked.

"Chan Professor, what is it tho?" Chantho came over to him.

"Time travel. They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know? Stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked." Yana took out an ornately inscribed fob watch as Stella and Martha gape in surprise. "Time and time and time again. Always running out on me."

"Can I have a look at that?" Martha said and Yana handed her the watch.

"Oh, it's only an old relic. Like me." Yana sighed.

"Where did you get it?" Stella asked as her finger tips barely brushed the metal, memories of Matron Stella Quinn with John Smith flashing in her head.

"Hmm? I was found with it." Yana replied.

"What do you mean?" Rhea asked.

"An orphan in the storm. I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned, with only this." Yana explained.

"Have you opened it?" Martha asked.

"Why would I? It's broken." Yana said.

"How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?" Martha asked.

"It's stuck. It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know." Yana said sounding slightly frustrated. Martha turned the watch over and recognized the inscriptions sharing a surprised look with Stella. "Does it matter?"

"No. It's nothing. It's…" Martha stuttered.

"Its' just an old watch, but pretty though." Stella said off handedly taking the watch from Martha and handing it back to Yana. "Listen, everything's fine up here, but we should go see if the Doctor needs us. Come on Martha."

Stella quickly led Martha out of the room and down the hall breaking out into a run when they were out of sight.

-0-

After the embarrassment of forgetting the girls were listening in on the comms, they had worked in silence for a bit until Jack finished up his work.

"Yes!" Jack said as they final connection was made.

"Now, get out of there. Come on!" The Doctor told Jack as he grabbed the phone. "Lieutenant, everyone on board?"

"Ready and waiting." Atillo replied.

"Stand by. Two minutes to ignition." The Doctor said.

"Ready to launch. Outer doors sealed." Atillo said.

"Countdown commencing. T minus ninety nine, ninety eight…"

Jack and the Doctor rushed around, flicking switches and pressing buttons getting everything going as Martha and Stella entered the room skidding to a stop.

"Ah, nearly there. The footprint, it's a gravity pulse. It stamps down, the rocket shoots up. Bit primitive. It'll take the both of us to keep it stable." The Doctor ranted as they worked.

"Doctor, it's the Professor. He's got this watch. He's got a fob watch." Martha said causing the Doctor's head to snap up to her. "It's the same as yours. Same writing on it, same everything."

"Don't be ridiculous." The Doctor shook his head.

"We asked him. He said he's had it his whole life." Stella pressed.

"So he's got the same watch." Jack said not getting the significance.

"Yeah, but it's not a watch. It's this chameleon thing…." Martha tried to explain.

"No, no, no, it's this, this thing, this device, it rewrites biology. Changes a Time Lord into a human." The Doctor said, explaining for her.

"And it's the same watch." Stella said.

"It can't be." The Doctor said before an alarm sounded sending them back to work.

"That means he could be a Time Lord. You might not be the last one." Jack said.

"Jack, keep it level!" The Doctor ordered and Stella rushed to help Jack with the machine.

"But that's brilliant, isn't it?" Martha asked.

"Yes, it is. Course it is. Depends which one. Brilliant, fantastic, yeah." The Doctor ranted out, back and forth unwilling to get his hoped up, but not being able to help it. "But they died, the Time Lords. All of them. They died."

"Not if he was human." Jack said.

"What did he say, Martha? Stella? What did he say?" The Doctor whirled around on the girls desperate.

"He looked at the watch like he could hardly see it." Martha said.

"Like a perception filter." Stella added.

"What about now? Can he see it now?" The Doctor questioned intensely.

"Thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine…"

"If he escaped the Time War then it's the perfect place to hide. The end of the universe." Jack commented.

"Six, five…"

"Think of what Boe said." Stella said looking to the Doctor. "His dying words. He said…"

"One." The Doctor turned the last switch and the rocket engines fired and the ship blasted away.

"You are not alone." Stella said placing a hand on his upper arm. "Yana, was an acronym."

"Lieutenant, have you done it? Did you get velocity? Have you done it? Lieutenant, have you done it?" The Doctor called out into the comm.

"Affirmative. We'll see you in Utopia." Atillo replied.

"Good luck." The Doctor said before he and the other rushed out of the room running back to the laboratory only for Yana to move a lever closing the control room door with a slam in the Doctor's face. "Get it open! Get it open!"

"The controls won't work, so let's try the manual approach." Stella stepped up to the door forcing her hands into the crack of the door making it open allowing them into the control room. They ran down a hall but were blocked. The Doctor, Jack, Rhea, and Martha had to double back to avoid Futurekind.

"This way!" Jack called out.

"Professor! Professor, let me in! Let me in!" The Doctor pounded on the door to Yana's lab. "Jack, Stella get the door open now!"

"This door is stronger than the other, I can't force it." Stella said as she tried to do so with no luck. "I'm sorry."

"Professor! Professor, where are you?! Professor! Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain. Whatever you do, don't open that watch." The Doctor called out frantically.

"They're coming!" Martha said as the sounds of the Furturekind got closer.

"Professor!" The Doctor continued. "Open the door, please! I'm begging you, Professor. Please, listen to me. Just open the door, please." Jack smashed the control panel and the door opened just as a shot rang out. Yana stepped back into the Tardis, carrying the hand jar, and shut the door on the Doctor. He locked it just before the Doctor could insert his key. "Let me in. Let me in!"

"She's dead." Martha shook her head kneeling down next to Chantho.

"I broke the lock. Give me a hand!" Jack called out from where he was holding the door closed.

"Move." Stella took hold of the door holding it in place, but couldn't close it. The future kind reached for her trying to grab her, scratching at her arms causing blue blood to well up, but she held strong.

"I'm begging you. Everything's changed! It's only the two of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!" The Doctor begged.

"Killed by an insect. A girl. How inappropriate. Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I. The Master reborn." The Doctor watched the golden glow through the Tardis window.

"Doctor! You'd better think of something!" Jack called out seeing Stella starting to sweat, never a good sign for her.

"Ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! Oh." A laugh rang out from the TARDIS. "Now then, Doctor. Ooo, new voice. Hello, hello. Hello. Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I don't think."

"Hold on. I know that voice." Martha said.

"I'm asking you really properly. Just stop. Just think!" The Doctor begged.

"Use my name." The man ordered.

"Master. I'm sorry." The Doctor said.

"Tough!" Master replied.

"I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!" Stella called out as Jack and Martha used what they could to beat the futurekind back.

The Doctor activated his sonic screwdriver while the Master started up the time rotor. Stella started to have trouble with the door as more Futurekind came. Martha and Jack start to help her hold the door closed keeping them out.

"Oh, no you don't! End of the universe. Have fun. Bye, bye!" Master said happily.

"Doctor, stop him! Help us. They're getting in!" Martha called out as the Tardis dematerialized.

To Be Continued...


	15. Chapter 15

A vortex appeared, blowing the rubbish around a dank alley way, followed by the Doctor, Jack, Stella and Martha suddenly appearing out of it.

"Oh, my head." Martha moaned.

"Time travel without a capsule. That's a killer." The Doctor cracked his neck.

"Either my head is really messed up or everyone has a twin now…Jack stop thinking that right now." Stella ordered making Jack pout.

"Spoil sport." Jack muttered. "Still, at least we made it. Earth, twenty first century by the looks of it. Talk about lucky."

"That wasn't luck that was me." The Doctor scoffed.

-0-

A few moments earlier found them trying to keep out the Futurekind whilst using the sonic screwdriver on Jack's vortex manipulator bracelet while replacing bits of it with Stella's manipulator.

"Hold still! Don't move! Hold it still!" The Doctor ordered.

"I'm telling you, it's broken. It hasn't worked for years." Jack told him.

"That's because you didn't have me." The Doctor replied. "Martha, Stella grab hold, now!"

"Oh this is not going to feel good." Stella grumbled and with everyone holding on to the manipulator, they vanished.

-0-

"The moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator." Jack said cockily as they walked through town.

"Hey, it was parts of my manipulator that fixed yours." Stella pointed out.

"But this Master bloke, he's got the Tardis. He could be anywhere in time and space." Martha said.

"No, he's here. Trust me." The Doctor said.

"Who is he, anyway? And that voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor." Martha said.

"If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated." Jack said.

"What does that mean?" Martha asked.

"It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. New man." Stella explained. "That's what Boe told me, new man same hearts." A beggar is tapping a rhythm on his tin mug. "My only question is how are we going to find him now though?"

"I'll know him, the moment I see him. Time Lords always do." The Doctor replied.

"But hold on. If he could be anyone…we missed the election…but it can't be." Martha said looking to a series of public television screens on lamp posts were broadcasting the news.

"Mister Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters." The new Prime Minister was walking down steps with his wife.

"I said I knew that voice. When he spoke inside the Tardis. I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon." Martha said in realization.

"That's him. He's Prime Minister." The Doctor said.

"Mister Saxon, this way, sir. Come on, kiss for the lady, sir."

"The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Master and his wife?" The Doctor looked shocked as the Master kissed his wife.

"This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine." Master said in his speech. "In fact, I'd go so far as to say that what this country really needs right now, is a Doctor."

-0-

"Home." Martha said as they walked into her flat.

"What have you got? Computer, laptop, anything." The Doctor questioned as Jack got on his phone. "Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here."

"Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply." Jack replied as Martha fetched her laptop.

"Here you go. Any good?" Martha asked.

"I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages." Jack took the computer.

"That's so weird though. It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you." Martha mused.

"We went flying all around the universe while he was here all the time." The Doctor said.

"You going to tell us who he is?" Stella asked looking to the Doctor.

"He's a Time Lord." The Doctor answered.

"I was hoping for a bit more." Stella replied as she held up her index finger and thumb.

"Yeah, what about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?" Martha joined in on the questioning.

"That's all you need to know." The Doctor replied as Stella scoffed. "Come on, show me Harold Saxon."

"I need some tea, you mind?" Stella motioned to the kitchen.

"Nah, there's tea in the cupboard pot should be on the stove and mugs on the shelf above the sink." Martha replied as she switched on her answering machine.

"Martha, where are you?" Tish said over the machine. "I've got this new job. You won't believe it. It's weird. They just phoned me up out of the blue. I'm working for…" Martha turned it off again.

"Oh, like it matters." Martha said in frustration. After a while Stella came back in with some mugs of tea passing them to the others as they watched the videos on the computer.

"I'm voting Saxon. He can tick my box any day." Sharon Osborn said.

"Vote Saxon! Go Harry!" McFly cheered.

"I think Mister Saxon is exactly what this country needs. He's a very fine man. And he's handsome too." Ann Widdecombe said with a smile.

"Former Minister of Defense. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve." Jack listed off. "Nice work, by the way."

"Oh, thanks." The Doctor replied.

"But he goes back years. He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Look. Cambridge University, Rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, marriage, everything. He's got a whole life." Martha said.

"With his brains he could probably fake anything he wanted." Stella said sipping her tea after handing some out to the others.

"But he's got the Tardis." Jack pointed out. "Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."

"No." The Doctor replied.

"Why not? Worked for me." Jack said.

"When he was stealing the Tardis, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the Tardis landed. Which is right here, right now." The Doctor explained.

"Yeah, but a little leeway?" Jack asked.

"Well, eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here is eighteen months. So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale." The Doctor shook his head.

"Easily, a little manipulation here, some money there, falsify some documents, a dash of threats and I could be prime minister." Stella said leaning back in her seat.

"I was going to vote for him." Martha commented.

"Really?" The Doctor looked to her.

"Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him." Martha shrugged.

"Me too." Jack said.

"Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?" The Doctor questioned.

"I don't know. He always sounded good." Martha started tapping the rhythm on her cup. "Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about. I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."

"What's that?" Stella asked leaning forward.

"What?" Martha asked coming out of her trance.

"That. That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?" Stella pressed.

"I don't know. It's nothing. It's just, I don't know." Martha replied then a fanfare blares out from the laptop and a pop-up said Saxon Broadcast All Channels. The Doctor turned on the TV and they all watched as the Master stepped up.

"Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom." The Doctor said.

"Britain, Britain, Britain." The Master started. "What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies. You've seen it happen. Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London. All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill. Time and time again, and the government told you nothing. Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose, here today is to tell you this. Citizens of Great Britain, I have been contacted. A message for humanity, from beyond the stars."

"People of the Earth, we come in peace. We bring great gifts." A sphere said on the TV. "We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship."

"Ooo, sweet." The Master smiled. "And this species has identified itself. They are called the Toclafane."

"What?!" Both the Doctor and Stella snapped.

"And tomorrow morning, they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. Oh, I don't know, every medical student?" The Master said seeming to stare straight at them through the TV. The Doctor turned to look at Martha, then turned the big old cathode ray tube TV around to see sticks of explosive strapped to the back.

"Out!" The Doctor ordered and they ran the Doctor grabbing the laptop as they run out into the street. The first floor of the converted house exploded with a massive fireball smashing the windows. "All right?"

"Fine, yeah, fine." Jack nodded.

"Not a scratch." Stella said running her hand through her hair.

"Martha? What are you doing?" The Doctor looked to Martha who was dialing on her mobile phone.

"He knows about me. What about my family?" Martha said fearfully.

"Don't tell them anything." The Doctor said.

"I'll do what I like." Martha snapped at him just as the phone was answered. "Mum? Oh my God, you're there." They watched as Martha talked with her mother then her father who let out a yell for them to run. "We've got to help them."

"That's exactly what they want. It's a trap!" The Doctor tried to reason with her.

"I don't care." Martha went to her Vauxhall Corsa the others following. The Doctor got in the front seat, and Jack and Stella in the back. Martha sped down the road, narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic.

"Traffic, look out for the oncoming traffic!" Stella yelped.

"Corner!" The Doctor shouted as Martha was making a phone call, hands free.

"Come on, Tish. Pick up." Martha begged.

"Martha, I can't talk right now." Tish answered. "We just made first contact. Did you see? Two men grabbed Tish's arms and carried her backwards. "What are you doing? Get off! Linda, tell them!"

"What's happening? Tish!" The phone went dead. "It's your fault. It's all your fault!"

"Martha, shut up and drive, this is no one's fault." Stella snapped as she placed a hand on the Doctor's shoulder giving it a comforting squeeze, practically feeling guilt radiating off of him. The Doctor reached up taking hold of her hand holding it tightly in his.

When they finally came to the neighborhood of Martha's mother there were men who were trying to get Francine into the police van when Martha drove up.

"I was helping you! Get off me!" Then Francine saw them in the car. "Martha, get out of here! Get out!"

"Target identified. " Armed police took up position.

"Martha, reverse." The Doctor ordered.

"Take aim."

"Get out, now!" The Doctor yelled.

"Fire!" Martha turned the car round as bullets slammed into it.

"Move it!" Jack called out as he covered Stella pushing her down shielding her from the bullets as the rear window was shattered as they drove away.

-0-

"The only place we can go planet Earth. Great!" Martha snapped.

"Careful!" The Doctor cautioned as Martha drove like a crazy person.

"Martha, listen to me. Do as I say. We've got to ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!" Jack ordered and she pulled up under an underpass and they left the car behind.

"Martha, come on!" The Doctor urged her as they walked up to a strip mall in the rain. Martha was making another telephone call.

"Leo! Oh, thank God. Leo, you got to listen to me. Where are you?" Martha said in relief.

"I'm in Brighton. Yeah, we came down with Boxer. Did you see that Saxon thing on telly?" Leo answered.

"Leo, just listen to me. Don't go home. I'm telling you. Don't phone Mum or Dad or Tish. You've got to hide." Martha said desperately.

"Shut up." Leo scoffed.

"On my life." Martha said seriously. "You've got to trust me. Go to Boxer's. Stay with him. Don't tell anyone. Just hide."

"Ooo, a nice little game of hide and seek. I love that. But I'll find you, Martha Jones." The Master broke in on her call. "Been a long time since we saw each other. Must be, what, one hundred trillion years?"

"Let them go, Saxon. Do you hear me! Let them go!" Martha screamed into the phone.

The Doctor took her phone and Stella came up wrapping an arm around Martha's shoulder.

"We'll get them back Martha, I promise." Stella said comfortingly.

"I'm here." The Doctor said into the phone.

"Doctor," The Doctor replied.

"I like it when you use my name." The Master said.

"You chose it," the Doctor remarked. "Psychiatrist's field day."

"As you chose yours" he countered, "The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"

"So…" the Doctor cut in, "Prime Minister."

"I know. It's good, isn't it?" The Master smiled.

"What are those creatures?" the Doctor asked, "You know there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made up name like the Bogeyman..."

"Do you remember all those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids? Back home. Where is it, Doctor?" The Master demanded.

"Gone," The Doctor swallowed hard.

"How can Gallifrey be gone?" The Master snapped.

"It burnt." The Doctor answered.

"And the Time Lords?" The Master asked.

"Dead. And the Daleks…more or less. What happened to you?" The Doctor asked.

"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War." The Master ranted. "I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me because…I was so scared."

"I know." The Doctor said.

"All of them? But not you, which must mean…" The Master put it all together.

"I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything." The Doctor answered.

"What did it feel like, though Doctor? Two almighty civilizations, burning. Oh, tell me, how did it feel?" The Master laughed.

"Stop it!" he hissed.

"You must have been like God." The Master went on.

"I've been alone ever since. And now you. Don't you see? All we've got is each other." The Doctor said.

"Are you asking me out on a date? I don't think Stella would like that very much." The Master commented. "I saw how cozy the two of you were at the end of the universe, the stolen glances, casual touches, so sweet."

"You could stop this right now," The Doctor tried again, "We could leave this planet. We could fight across the constellations if that's what you want. But not on Earth."

"Too late." The Master replied.

"Why do you say that?" the Doctor frowned.

"The drumming. I thought it would stop but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming. The constant drumming." The Master replied.

"I could help you," the Doctor offered. "Please, let me help."

"It's everywhere," the Master continued, "Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums. Here come the drums," The Doctor looked over to see a boy, leaning on a building, tapping the rhythm on his legs.

"What have you done?" The Doctor breathed out. "Tell me how you've done this, what are those creatures? Tell me!"

"Oh, look," the Master sighed, "You're on TV."

"Stop it! Answer me!" The Doctor snapped.

"No, really. You're on telly! You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are! Ha!" Master laughed.

"Doctor." Stella noticed the TV. The ticker said Nationwide Hunt For Terrorist Suspects, and had their pictures.

"Known as the Captain. They are known to be armed and extremely dangerous."

Stella quickly walked over to the Doctor standing near the TV and could now hear the Master on the phone as well.

"You're public enemy's number one, two, three and four. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them." The Master said. "Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?"

"He can see us." The Doctor zapped the CCTV with the sonic screwdriver.

"Oh, you public menace. Better start running. Go on, run." The Master ordered as the Doctor ended the call.

"He's got control of everything." The Doctor snapped.

"What do we do?" Martha asked.

"We've got nowhere to go," Jack added.

"Doctor, what do we do?" Martha pressed.

"Run for your life, Doctor!" the Master called over the phone.

"We run." the Doctor agreed and they took off running.

-0-

Martha and Stella walked into a disused warehouse, carrying a bag of takeaway, as the Doctor sat in front the laptop, Jack trying to tweak his Manipulator.

"How was it?" Jack asked.

"I don't think anyone saw us," Martha sighed, "Anything new?"

"I've got this tuned into the government wavelength so we can follow what Saxon's doing," Jack replied.

"Yeah, I meant about my family." Martha said.

"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning," the Doctor told her, "Tell you what, though, no mention of Leo."

"He's not as daft as he looks...I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?" Martha said in shock.

"I have asked questions like that my whole life." Stella commented with a sigh.

"Nice chips," Jack remarked as he sat down and took a container of food that Martha passed out.

"Actually, they're not bad," the Doctor popped one into his mouth.

Martha and Stella sat down and looked at Jack, Stella nodding her head towards the Time Lord.

"So, who is he?" Jack asked him, "How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"

"And what is he to you?" Stella added, "Like a colleague…"

"A friend, at first." The Doctor replied.

"I thought you were gonna say he was your secret brother or something," Martha joked.

"You've been watching too much TV." The Doctor looked to Martha.

"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect," Jack frowned.

"Well, perfect to look at, maybe." The Doctor replied. "And it was. It was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their family's age of eight to enter the Academy. And some say that's when it all began. When he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Un-tempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad. Brr. I don't know."

"What about you?" Martha eyed him.

"Oh, the ones that ran away," the Doctor laughed, "I never stopped."

Jack's Manipulator beeped, cutting off any further talk.

"Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognize it." Jack said.

"Patch it through to the laptop," the Doctor nodded at it.

"Um, since we're telling stories, um, there's something I haven't told you..." Jack trailed off and the Torchwood Logo popped up on the screen.

"You work for Torchwood!" the Doctor eyed him.

"I swear to you, it's different. It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now..." Jack tried to explain.

"Everything Torchwood did and you're part of it?" The Doctor glared.

"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it. And when I did that, I did it for you, in your honor." Jack snapped.

"Later guys, let's see what this has to say." Stella said pressing play.

"If I haven't returned to my desk by 2200 hours, this file will be emailed to Torchwood," the woman began, "Which means, if you're watching this, then I'm…anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network."

The screen changed to a graphic of the Earth with 15 satellites around it.

"What's the Archangel Network?" the Doctor asked.

"I've got Archangel," Martha pulled out her phone, "Everyone's got it."

"It's the mobile phone network," Jack explained, "'Cos, look, it's gone worldwide. They've got 15 satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."

"It's in the phones!" Stella said in realization as the Doctor grabbed Martha's phone sonicing it.

"Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on." The Doctor tapped Martha's phone against the table, and it starts beeping the rythmn. "There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious."

"What is it, mind control?" Martha questioned.

"No, no, no, no, no. It's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world." The Doctor explained. "Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out."

"He was hiding in plain sight the whole time." Stella said shaking her head.

"Any way you can stop it?" Jack asked.

"Not from down here," Stella shook her head.

"But now we know how he's doing it..." the Doctor trailed.

"And we can fight back!" Martha exclaimed.

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor grinned, taking apart the laptop and instructed Stella to pull apart the phone. Then the Doctor took Stella Martha and Jack's TARDIS keys, using the sonic to weld the circuitry to the keys before the Rhea tied them to strings.

"Four TARDIS keys," The Doctor pushed them forward, "Four pieces of the TARDIS with low-level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in," Stella gave him a non-plused look. "Well, sort of, but…" he shook his head, "Now! The Archangel Network's got a second low-level signal. Weld the key to the network and…Martha," he stepped back, "Look at me. You can see me, yes?"

"Yep!" she nodded.

"What about now?" The Doctor slipped the key over his neck and Martha immediately looked to the side. She blinked and tried again, "No, I'm here. Look at me," but it happened again.

"It's like…I know you're there but I don't want to know." Martha said.

"And back again," he pulled the key off, "See?"

"It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit," Stella explained, "Doesn't make us invisible, just...unnoticed."

"Oh, I know what it's like. It's like...it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like." The Doctor said with a smile making Stella's heart drop as she looked away. "Come on." As soon as they were out of sight Stella popped the Doctor in the arm. "What?!"

"You are such an idiot, or maybe you just don't care." Stella snapped as she crossed her arms around herself walking ahead of him. The Doctor watched her with a pang of longing and guilt for avoiding her, avoiding what had happened when they were human. He wanted so badly to just say what he felt, but the others caught up before he could.

"Don't run," The Doctor warned. "Don't shout. Just keep your voice down. Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."

"Like ghosts." Jack commented.

"Yeah, that's what we are. Ghosts." The Doctor nodded and with the keys around their necks, they had to step aside to prevent people from walking into them.

"And as they eyes of the world turn towards Great Britain, sources indicate that Air Force One has landed on British soil tonight."

-0-

They stood at the edge of the tarmac of a small base, watching as the Master and his wife arrived with an escort to greet the President of the United States.

"Mr. President, sir!" the Master mockingly saluted.

"Mr. Saxon," the President glared, "The British Army will stand down. From now on, UNIT has control of this operation."

"You make it sound like an invasion." The Master said.

"First contact policy was decided by the Security Council in 1968. And you've just gone and ignored it." The President bit out.

"Well, you know what it's like. New job, all that paperwork. I think it's down the back of the settee. I did have a quick look. I found a pen, a sweet, a bus ticket and uh…have you met the wife?" The Master presented his wife.

"Mr. Saxon, I'm not sure what your game is but there are provisions at the United Nations to have you removed from office unless you are very, very careful. Is that understood?" the Master mimed zipping his lips, "Are you taking this seriously?" he nodded, "To business. We've accessed your files on these…Toclafane. First contact cannot take place on any sovereign soil. For that purpose, the aircraft carrier Valiant is en route. The rendezvous will take place there at 8:00 am," the Master made to speak with zipped lips, "You're trying my patience, sir."

"So America is completely in charge?" The Master asked after unzipping his lips.

"Since Britain elected an ass, yes. I'll see you onboard the Valiant." The President walked away.

"It still will be televised, though, won't it. Because I promised, and the whole world is watching." The Master said.

"Since it's too late to pull out, the world will be watching. Me," the President nodded and walked over to a waiting car.

"The last President of America," the Master spoke to his wife, "We have a private plane ready and waiting. We should reach the Valiant within the hour," he motioned for his wife to go first into the car, "My darling," he turned to watch the President drive away and glanced at the area where the four were standing when a siren made him turn. A police van pulled up and the Jones family was pulled out, sans Leo, "Hi, guys!" he laughed, "All will be revealed!"

"Oh my God," Martha breathed.

"Don't move," The Doctor warned her.

"But…" Martha struggled.

"Don't," Stella agreed squeezing her hand as they stood there watching as the family was transferred into another car.

"I'm gonna kill him." Martha snarled.

"Say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack wondered.

"Now that sounds like Torchwood," the Doctor remarked.

"Still a good plan." Jack replied.

"Doesn't make it right." Stella said darkly.

"He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility," The Doctor said. "I'm not here to kill him, I'm here to save him."

Jack nodded reluctantly and started tapping the coordinates into his Manipulator,

"Aircraft carrier Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at 28.2N and 10.02E." Jack read off.

"How do we get onboard?" Martha asked.

"Does that thing work as a teleport?" the Doctor looked at Jack.

"Since you revamped it, yeah," he held out his wrist, "Coordinates set."

They all reached out and touched the Manipulator as he activated it, appearing in one of the Valiant's engine rooms. Martha and Jack groaned at the sudden move while the Doctor and Stella remained standing, though Stella titled a bit, but managed to shake it off.

"Oh, that thing is rough," Martha groaned.

"I've had worse nights," Jack cracked his neck, "Welcome to the Valiant."

"It's dawn!" Martha gasped as she walked to a porthole and looked out, "Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"

"A ship for the 21st century. Protecting the skies of planet Earth." Jack replied.

They all looked out to see the Valiant was a massive aircraft carrier in the sky with three landing strips.

-0-

They were running down the corridors when the Doctor stopped suddenly.

"We've no time for sightseeing!" Jack hissed.

"No, no," the Doctor shook his head, "Wait. Shh, shh, shh. Can't you hear it?"

"Yeah, but which way is it coming from?" Stella asked glancing around.

"Hear what?" Jack asked.

"Doctor, my family's on board," Martha strode past him.

"This way!" Stella turned, following the sound as they ran down more corridors, and into a room where the TARDIS was stationed between some crates.

"Oh, at last!" the Doctor grinned, running to it.

"Oh, yes!" Martha laughed.

"What's it doing on the Valiant?" Jack wondered as the Doctor threw the doors open and they stepped in to see the room bathed in red, the console torn apart. "What the hell's he done?"

"Don't touch it," the Doctor warned.

"I'm not going to." Jack replied.

"What's he done though?" Martha frowned, "Sounds like it's…sick."

"It can't be," the Doctor shook his head, "No, no, no, no, no, no…it can't be!"

"Doctor, what is it?" Martha pressed.

"He's cannibalized the TARDIS," the Doctor replied, looking at the console sadly.

"Doctor, he's not just cannibalized, he re-built it, changed it." Stella breathed out.

"Is that what I think it is?" Jack's eyes widened.

"It's a Paradox Machine," the Doctor confirmed. "As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger..." she looked at Jack's watch, "At two minutes past 8:00."

"First contact is at 8:00 and then two minutes later…" Jack trailed.

"What's it for?" Martha asked, "What's a Paradox Machine do?"

"More importantly, can you stop it?" Jack asked.

"Not until we know what it's doing," the Doctor sighed, "Touch the wrong bit and blow up the solar system."

"Then we've got to get to the Master," Stella replied.

"Yeah," Jack agreed, "How do we stop him?"

"Oh, I've got a way," the Doctor looked up at them, "Sorry, didn't I tell you?"

-0-

They entered the conference room/bridge of the ship just as the President stood up to speak.

"My fellow Americans, patriots, people of the world…I stand before you today as ambassador for humanity, a role I will undertake with utmost solemnity. Perhaps our Toclafane cousins can offer us much, but what is important is not that we gain material benefits, but that we learn to see ourselves anew. For as long as man has looked to the stars, he has wondered what mysteries they hold. Now we know we are not alone…" The President went on.

"This plan, you gonna tell us?" Jack whispered.

"If I can get this," The Doctor gestured to his key, "Around the Master's neck…cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real."

"It'll be hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert," Stella added, eying the room.

""If they stop me…you've all got a key." The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, sir," Jack nodded.

"I'll get him," Martha promised.

"Ready to go." Stella replied.

"And I ask you now," the President continued, "I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends. I give you the Toclafane," the spheres appeared around him, "My name is Arthur Coleman Winters, President-Elect of the United States of America and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon."

"You're not the Master," a child-like male voice spoke.

"We like the Mr. Master," a female sphere replied.

"We don't like you," a second male sneered.

"I…can be Master, if you so wish," Winters fumbled, "I will accept mastery over you if that is God's will."

"Man is stupid," the second male replied.

"Master is our friend," the first male agreed.

"Where's my Master, pretty please?" the female asked.

"Oh, alright then," the Master called, "It's me!" he stood up, "Ta da!" he laughed, "Sorry. Sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy!"

"Saxon, what are you talkin' about?" Winters demanded.

"I'm taking control, Uncle Sam. Starting with you," he looked at the Toclafane, "Kill him."

One of the Toclafane shot Winters with a laser, disintegrating him. Chaos erupted as everyone tried to leave the room until the Master's guards pulled out their weapons.

"Guards!" he called.

"Nobody move!" they shouted, "Nobody move!"

"Now then, peoples of the Earth, please attend carefully," the Master looked into the camera.

The Doctor rushed forward.

"Stop him!" a guard shouted.

Two guards grabbed the Doctor and forced him to kneel on the floor.

"We meet at last, Doctor. Oh, ho. I love saying that." The Master smiled.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" The Doctor ordered.

"As if a perception filter's going to work on me." The Master sneered and looked to the others. "And look, it's the girlie, the robot, and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which."

Jack rushed forward but the Master fired a laser at him, killing him.

"Laser screwdriver, who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!" The Master cheered as Martha ran to Jack's side. Stella made to run at him, but he pointed the laser at Martha making her stop. "You could probably take it and live but could she? Get down."

Stella ground her teeth as she sunk to her knees next to Martha and Jack.

"Master, just calm down. Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself…" The Doctor pleaded.

The Master sighed and looked at the camera.

"Oh, do excuse me, little bit of personal business. Back in a minute," he turned to the guards, "Let him go."

They pushed him forward to the floor.

"It's that sound, the sound in your head. What if I could help?" The Doctor tried.

"Oh, how to shut him up? I know. Memory Lane!" he sat down on the steps before him, "Professor Lazarus. Remember him? And his genetic manipulation device? Did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver…but, oh, if I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do!" he ran over to a silver case and opened it to reveal the hand, "I've got his hand! And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?"

He aimed the laser at the Doctor who screamed and convulsed as his genetic makeup was aged.

"Teleport," Jack handed Martha the Manipulator as he revived.

"We can't." she shook her head.

"We're not leaving you." Stella growled out.

"We can't stop him. Get out of here, both of you. Get out." Jack ordered. Martha shook her head as Stella crawled over to the Doctor's side, now a very old man.

"Oh can love survive the test of time?" The Master said wickedly.

"Doctor, I've got you." Stella said gently cradling him so his head lay against her shoulder. "Martha."

"I'm right here." Martha said joining them. "Is he ok?"

"Aw, she's a would-be doctor," the Master grinned, "But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown 'em in all the way from prison..." he gestured to the door and the guards led in her family.

"Mum!" Martha gasped.

"I'm sorry," her mother wept.

"The Toclafane, who are they?" the Doctor breathed heavily, "Who are they?"

"Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break," the Master frowned.

"Is it time?" the boy sphere asked.

"Is it ready?" the other boy wondered.

"Is the machine singing?" the girl hoped.

The Master checked his watch.

"Two minutes past," he ran up the stairs and stood beside his wife, "So! Earthlings. Basically, um, end of the world," he held up his screwdriver, "Here…come…the drums!"

And to everyone's horror, 'Voodoo Child' started to play over the speakers as the Paradox Machine was activated. The Master ran to the window, looking out, as an angry red rift opened in the sky and thousands of Toclafane poured out.

"How many do you think?" the Master asked his wife as they stood, watching.

"I don't know," she breathed. The Doctor pulled Martha and Stella close whispering to them quickly. Stella looked into his eyes taking something out of her pocket and pressing it into the Doctor's hand before pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Six billion," he switched on a speaker, "Down you go, kids!" he turned to his wife, "Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. Nice word, decimate," he turned to a Toclafane, "Remove one-tenth of the population!"

Messages instantly started to wave to them on the radio, cries for help as the Toclafane massacred the humans below.

"Valiant, this is Geneva! We're getting slaughtered down here!"

Martha and Stella stood up, Stella still holding onto his hand, gripping it tightly as he gripped it back just as tight.

"Help us, for God's sake! Help us! They're everywhere!"

"This is London, Valiant! This is London calling! What do we do?"

She looked tearfully at her family as Stella and the Doctor slowly let go.

"They're killing us! The Toclafane are killing us!"

And with one last look at the Doctor, they activated the Manipulator, disappearing and reappearing outside of London. Still wearing the Tardis key, Martha and Stella watched London burning as it was ravaged by the spheres.

"We're coming back." Martha said.

"I know." Stella nodded and then pulled Martha away from the scene into the tree line.

The Master strode over and grabbed the Doctor, not even caring about the human and cyborg who'd escaped as he hefted the Doctor up and forced him to watch the fall of Earth from the window,

"And so it came to pass…that the human race fell and the Earth was no more. And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all and I thought it…good."

The Doctor's gaze fell as he looked to the daisy he had picked for Stella when they were human sealed in a smooth round clear resin. She had kept it, all of this time, and she had preserved it. He clutched it tightly in his hand holding it close to his chest between his hearts.

To be continued…


	16. Chapter 16

On a long lonely stretch of beach in the dark of night a man signaled to a rowing boat offshore with an oil lamp. It came in close to him and Martha got out along with Stella then the boat and its crew leave. Stella had her ring activated constantly now since humans were more afraid of non-human things now more than ever.

"What's your name, then?" Martha asked as she and Stella walked up to him, Stella's eye darting around for any signs of danger.

"Tom Milligan." He answered. "No need to ask who you are. The famous Martha Jones and Stella Quinn. How long since you were last in Britain?"

"Three hundred and sixty five days." Martha answered.

"It's been a long year." Stella said darkly, her hands jammed into pockets of her black duster.

"So what's the plan?" Tom asked.

"This Professor Docherty." Martha said. "We need to see her. Can you get us there?"

"She works in a repair shed, Nuclear Plant Seven. I can get you inside." Tom replied. "What's all this for? What's so important about her?"

"Classified." Stella replied.

"Sorry, the more you know, the more you're at risk." Martha added.

"There's a lot of people depending on you two. You two are a bit of a legend." Tom said.

"What does the legend say?" Stella asked.

"That you sailed the Atlantic, walked across America. That you two were the only people to get out of Japan alive. Martha Jones and Stella Quinn, they say, they're going to save the world." Tom answered. "Bit late for that."

"It's never too late, this isn't the first apocalypse this world has faced, nor will it be its last." Stella replied as they walked up to a flatbed van.

"How come you can drive? Don't you get stopped?" Martha asked.

"Medical staff. Used to be in pediatrics back in the old days. But that gives me a license to travel so I can help out other the labor camps." Tom explained.

"Great. I'm travelling with a doctor." Martha said sarcastically.

"Funny how things turn out." Stella smarted as they all got into the van.

"Hilarious." Martha deadpanned.

"Story goes that you two are the only people on Earth who can kill him. That you two alone, can kill the Master stone dead." Tom went on.

"Let's just drive." Stella said ending the conversation.

-0-

They came up on a giant statue of the Master standing above the rocks.

"All over the Earth, those things. He's even carved himself into Mount Rushmore." Martha commented as they starred up at the statue.

"Yeah, he's a special kind of crazy alright." Stella nodded as they got out of the van and made their way up to the shipyards.

"Best to keep down. Here we go. The entire south coast of England, converted into shipyards." Tom said as they over looked the rockets. "They bring in slave labor every morning. Break up cars, houses, anything, just for the metal. Building a fleet out of scrap."

"A fleet of space rockets." Stella said looking over the patchwork missiles.

"You should see Russia. That's Shipyard Number One. All the way from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait, there's a hundred thousand rockets getting ready for war." Martha said shaking her head.

"War? With who?" Tom asked.

"The rest of the universe." Stella answered.

"I've been out there, Tom, in space, before all this happened, and there's a thousand different civilizations all around us with no idea of what's happening here. The Master can build weapons big enough to devastate them all." Martha said.

"You've been in space?" Tom asked in shock.

"Problem with that?" Martha replied.

"No. No, just er, wow. Anything else I should know about you two?" Tom asked.

"I've met Shakespeare." Martha commented.

"And I'm a cyborg." Stella added as Tom looked between them trying to decide which was more shocking to hear. Suddenly two spheres flew in from behind the statue.

"Identify, little man." A Sphere ordered as Martha and Stella went very still.

"I've got a license. Thomas Milligan, Peripatetic Medical Squad." Tom said hastily showing his ID. "I'm allowed to travel. I was just checking for…"

"Soon the rockets will fly, and everyone will need medicine. You'll be so busy." The spheres flew off to the shipyard, laughing.

"I'd like to drop kick those things into a volcano." Stella commented as they watched them go.

"But they didn't see you." Tom looked to them.

"How do you think we travelled the world?" Martha replied and they held up their Tardis keys.

"Because the Master set up Archangel, that mobile network, fifteen satellites around the planet, but really it's transmitting this low level psychic field." Stella explained as they walked back to the van. "That's how everyone got hypnotized into thinking he was Harold Saxon."

"Saxon. Feels like years ago." Tom said.

"But the key's tuned in to the same frequency. Makes us sort of not invisible, just unnoticeable." Martha finished explaining.

"Well, I can see you." Tom pointed out.

"That's because you wanted to." Martha replied with a smile.

"Yeah, I suppose I did." Tom smiled at her.

"Is there a Mrs. Milligan?" Martha asked.

"No. No." Tom shook his head. "What about you?"

"Nah. Haven't really had the time lately." Martha replied blushing lightly as they starred at each other for a moment then looked away.

"And do you…?" Tom looked to Stella.

"Once, a long time ago." Stella replied hoarsely then shook her head. "Come on, we've got to find this Docherty woman."

Stella tried to push back thoughts of the Doctor. She could still feel his hand in hers and the memories of when they were John and Matron Stella plagued her constantly. She wanted so desperately to know if he was ok, alive, anything, not knowing was killing her inside.

"We'll have to wait until the next work shift. What time is it now?" Tom asked.

"It's nearly three o'clock." Martha replied.

"Then we should get going." Stella said as they piled into the van and took off.

-0-

Tom cut a gap in the shipyard's chain link fence, and they ran to a building where an older woman was thumping a cathode ray tube in frustration.

"Professor Docherty?" Tom called out.

"Busy." Docherty replied still working.

"They, er, they sent word ahead. I'm Tom Milligan. This is Martha Jones and Stella Quinn." Tom introduced them.

"They can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care. I'm still busy." Docherty said sarcastically.

"Televisions don't work anymore." Stella pointed out. "Why are you messing with that thing?"

"Oh God, I miss Countdown. Never been the same since Des took over. Both Deses." Docherty mused wistfully. "What's the plural for Des? Desi? Deseen?" Docherty shook her head. "But we've been told there's going to be a transmission from the man himself."

"Let me take a look." Stella said as she ran her hand over the TV, her fingertips glowing bright blue.

"What are you doing there?" Docherty asked eyeing the girl's hand.

"Sonic hands, I have a…friend who had a sonic screw driver, liked the tech so much I spent the last year integrating it into my systems to replace my holographic tools." Stella replied. "Much more efficient this way."

"What are you?" Docherty asked her wide eyed.

"A human kidnapped by aliens turned cyborg." Stella replied as the TV screen filled with a static-ridden black and white image.

"There!" Docherty said stopping Stella.

"My people. Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child and freak, walking the Earth, giving you hope." The Master said over the TV. "But I ask you, how much hope has this man got? Say hello, Gandalf." The screen panned to the Doctor sitting slumped in a wheel chair. Stella's breath caught in her throat as she and Martha clasped hands. "Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes. But what if it showed? What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?" The Master retuned his screwdriver and zapped the Doctor again. "Older and older and older. Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years."

"Hold on, just hold on." Stella breathed out until finally the convulsions ended and the Doctor was no longer sitting in the wheelchair.

"Doctor." The Master said looking over the clothes. A tiny creature with big eyes peered out from the otherwise empty clothes. "Received and understood, Miss Jones, Miss Quinn?"

The broadcast ended leaving them in silence.

"I'm sorry." Tom said to them.

"The Doctor's still alive." Martha breathed out.

"He's given us hope and he doesn't even know it." Stella said crossing her arms.

-0-

"Obviously the Archangel Network would seem to be the Master's greatest weakness." Docherty explained as they sat up in her room. "Fifteen satellites all around the Earth, still transmitting. That's why there's so little resistance. It's broadcasting a telepathic signal that keeps people scared."

"We could just take them out." Tom pointed out.

"We could. Fifteen ground to air missiles. You got any on you?" Docherty said sarcastically. "Besides, any military action, the Toclafane descend."

"They're not called Toclafane." Martha shook her head. "That's a name the Master made up."

"The Tolcafane were the equivalent of the boogeyman story to keep kids in line, these Spheres are something else completely." Stella added.

"Then what are they, then?" Docherty asked.

"That's why we came to find you. Know your enemy." Martha replied digging into her bag and pulling out a disc. "We've got this. No one's been able to look at a sphere close up. They can't even be damaged, except once."

"The lightning strike in South Africa brought one of them down, just by chance. We've got the readings on this." Stella pointed to the disc. Docherty took it, put the disc into her computer, and thumps it as it struggled to read the data.

"Oh, whoever thought we'd miss Bill Gates." Docherty replied.

"I met him, not as smart as you'd think." Stella commented offhandedly.

"So is that why you travelled the world? To find a disc?" Tom asked.

"No. Just got lucky." Stella replied.

"I heard stories that you two walked the Earth to find a way to build a weapon." Docherty commented. "There! A current of fifty eight point five kiloamperes transferred charge of five hundred and ten megajoules precisely."

"Can you recreate that?" Tom asked her.

"I think so. Easily. Yes." Docherty nodded.

"Right then, Doctor Milligan, we're going to get us a sphere." Martha said.

"Does anyone have a gun on them?" Stella asked as she shed her trench coat leaving her in her black shirt, black cargo pants, and black boots.

-0-

Outside Stella fired the gun Tom had given her three times into the air.

"Come and get me!" Stella called out and a sphere descends giving chase immediately as Stella ran as fast as she could through the factory.

"She's coming. You ready?" Martha looked to Docherty.

"You do your job, I'll do mine!" Docherty replied.

"She should have let me do it." Tom said watching worriedly as Stella ran, parkouring over any obstacles in her way with a great amount of grace easily avoiding the shots sent at her from the Sphere. "Whoah."

"And that's why she's doing it." Martha pointed out as Stella ran in.

"Now!" Stella called out. The sphere got caught in an electrical field set up across the narrow passageway and after a few moments, it dropped to the ground with a thud.

"That's only half the job. Let's find out what's inside." Docherty said as they surrounded the orb.

-0-

They took the sphere back into the lab and Stella got to work with Docherty trying to open the sphere as the others gathered around watching.

"There's some sort of magnetic clamp." Docherty commented as Stella ran a blue fingertip over the line sending sonic vibes into it.

"Hold on, I'll just trip the…" Stella opened the four quarters of the top of the sphere.

"Oh my God!" Docherty breathed out looking into the sphere which contained a tiny wizened head then its eyes popped open making them all jump back with small noises of alarm. "It's alive."

"Martha. Martha Jones." Sphere said.

"It knows you." Tom looked to an equally surprise Martha.

"Sweet, kind Martha Jones. You helped us to fly." Sphere went on.

"What do you mean?" Martha demanded.

"You led us to salvation." The Sphere went on.

"Who are you?" Martha questioned shakily.

"The skies are made of diamonds." Creet said.

"No. You can't be him." Martha said in shock.

"I'm so sorry Creet." Stella said softly having already drawn the conclusion long ago.

"Creet?" Martha breathed out.

"We share each other's memories. You sent him to Utopia." Creet said.

"Oh, my God." Martha breathed out.

"What's it talking about? What's it mean?" Tom asked them.

"What are they?" Docherty asked as well.

"Stella. Martha, tell us. What are they?" Tom demanded.

"They're us. They're humans." Martha breathed out.

"The human race from the future." Stella said grimly.

"You knew." Martha looked at Stella, not seeing an ounce of surprise on her face.

"I worked it out with the paradox machine, because the Doctor said, on the day before the Master came to power, he said…" Stella remembered the Doctor's words. "When he was stealing the Tardis, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the Tardis landed, which is right here, right now."

"The Master had the Tardis, this time machine, but the only other place he could go was the end of the universe, so he found Utopia." Martha put the pieces together.

"Exactly." Stella nodded. "The Utopia Project was the last hope. Trying to find a way to escape the end of everything."

"There was no solution, no diamonds. Just the dark and the cold." Creet told them. "But then the Master came with his wonderful time machine to bring us back home."

"But that's a paradox. If you're the future of the human race, and you've come back to murder your ancestors, you should cancel yourselves out. You shouldn't exist." Docherty said.

"And that's the paradox machine." Stella told her.

"But what about us? We're the same species. Why do you kill so many of us?" Tom demanded.

"Because it's fun!" Creet descended into hysterical laughter until Tom shot it in the head unable to take it. A silence followed for a moment, no one moving until Stella shook her head closing the orb and picking it up.

"What are you doing?" Docherty asked as Stella walked to the doors.

"Giving a little boy whose life was ripped apart by a mad man a proper burial." Stella replied with sorrow.

"But it's a monster, that thing has killed…" Tom argued, but Stella whirled around on him, her eyes narrowed, glowing like blue fire.

"When I last saw him he was no more than seven or eight, imagine, being that young ripped from your body and forced into one of these…things…" Stella held up the orb. "…would you still be able to function, would your mind survive?"

Tom made no move to answer, ducking his head as Stella stepped out allowing the doors to slam close behind her.

-0-

When Stella came back into the building, her hands covered in dirt, no one said a word. She silently walked over to the sink washing them, a tired look in her eyes. When she was done Docherty led them to the back of the building where she had her bed room set up.

"I think it's time we had the truth." Docherty said as they all sat around her room. "The legend says you've both travelled the world to find a way of killing the Master. Tell us, is it true?"

"Just before we escaped, the Doctor told us. The Doctor and the Master, they've been coming to Earth for years." Martha explained. "And they've been watched. There's UNIT SHIELD and Torchwood, all studying Time Lords in secret. And they made this, the ultimate defense." Martha opened the case from her bag to reveal a gun-like device, with a squeeze trigger and four small cylinders along the top while Stella took three vials of colored liquid from her pack and sat them down as well. "All you need to do is get close. I can shoot the Master dead with this."

"Actually, you can put that down now, thank you very much." Docherty said warily looking at the gun and Martha sat it back down on the bed.

"Point is, it's not so easy to kill a Time Lord. They can regenerate. Literally bring themselves back to life." Stella told them.

"Ah, the Master's immortal. Wonderful." Docherty said sarcastically.

"Except for this. Four chemicals, slotted into the gun. Inject him. Kills a Time Lord permanently." Martha said.

"Four chemicals? You've only got three." Tom pointed out.

"Still need the last one, because the components of this gun were kept safe, scattered across the world, and we found them. San Diego, Beijing, Budapest and London." Martha listed off.

"Then where is it?" Tom asked.

"There's an old UNIT base, north London. We've found the access codes." Stella replied leaning forward.

"Tom, you've got to get us there." Martha looked to him.

"No time like the present." Stella said as she stood up the other with and and started out of the room back into the lab.

"We can't get across London in the dark. It's full of wild dogs. We'll get eaten alive." Tom said as they came into the workshop. "We can wait till the morning then go with the medical convoy."

"You can spend the night here, if you like." Docherty offered.

"No, we can get halfway, stay at the slave quarters in Bexley." Tom replied then looked to her. "Professor, thank you."

"And you. Good luck." Docherty replied shaking his hand.

"Thanks." Martha said.

"Martha, Stella could you do it? Could you actually kill him?" Docherty asked.

"I've got no choice." Martha replied with a shrug.

"You might be many things, but you don't look like a killer to me." Docherty commented.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here, because I have and I can." Stella said darkly as she pulled her hood up.

"I believe you." Docherty breathed out meeting her gaze, Stella's eyes glowing eerily in the shadow of her hood.

-0-

Tom Stella and Martha dodged a patrol as they raced through the slave quarters of London, and knock on a door to one of the houses.

"Let me in. It's Milligan." Tom whispered through the door and it was open right away to reveal that the place was full to bursting.

"Did you bring food?" A woman asked.

"Couldn't get any, and I'm starving." Tom replied.

"All we've got is water." The Woman said.

"I'm sorry." Martha said with a sad frown as the took in the sight of so many forced to live in the simple home.

"It's cheaper than building barracks. Pack them in, a hundred in each house, ferry them off to the shipyards every morning." Tom told them.

"Are you Stella Quinn and Martha Jones?" A boy asked hopefully.

"Yeah, that's us." Stella replied ruffling his hair with a smile.

"Can you do it? Can you kill him? They said you can kill the Master, can you? Tell us you can do it. Please, tell us you can do it." The boy begged.

"Who is the Master?" The woman asked and a babble of voices breaks out in the home.

"Come on, just leave them alone. They're exhausted." Tom tried to fend off the people.

"No, it's all right. They want us to talk, and I will." Stella said with a nod as she settled down on the stairs and started to tell their story. "We travelled across the world, from the ruins of New York to the fusion mills of China, right across the radiation pits of Europe. And everywhere we went, we saw people just like you, living as slaves. But if Martha Jones and Stella Quinn became a legend, then that's wrong, because our names are not important. There's someone else. The man who sent us out there. The man who told us to walk the Earth. And his name is the Doctor. He has saved your lives so many times, and you never even knew he was there. He never stops. He never stays. He never asks to be thanked. But we've seen him." Stella became wistful, a small smile playing on her lips coupled with a dreamy look in her eyes. Martha smiled gently taking one of her hands, Stella gripped her hand, thankful for the support and comfort. "I know him. I love him. And I know what he can do."

"It's him! It's him! Oh my God, it's him!" A woman rushed into the house causing Stella to shoot to her feet. She was calling out frantically as she ran right up to Stella and Martha. "It's the Master. He's here."

"But he never comes to Earth. He never walks upon the ground." The boy said fearfully.

"Hide them!" A woman ordered. Stella and Martha ducked down on the stairs.

"Use this." Tom said covering Martha and Stella with old sacks while outside, the Master is accompanied by armed guards and spheres. Tom readied his gun by the letter box gazing out at the master.

"He walks among us, our lord and master." The boy breathed out.

"Not mine." Stella snarled quietly.

"Martha. Stella. Martha Jones. Stella Quinn!" The Master called out to them. "I can see you! Out you come, little girls. Come and meet your master. Anybody? Nobody? No? Nothing? Positions. I'll give the order unless you surrender. Ask yourself. What would the Doctor do?"

"It's time." Stella said looking to Martha. "Ready?"

"No." Martha replied.

"Me neither." Stella said with a small smirk then they took off the Tardis keys and went outside ignoring the protests of the others.

"Oh, yes. Oh, very well done. Good girls. He trained you both well." The Master smiled. "Bags. Give me the bags." Stella and Martha started forward. "No, stay there. Just throw it." They threw their backpacks towards the Master, who fired his laser screwdriver at them destroying them. "And now, good companions, your work is done." The Master pointed his laser at Martha and Stella stepped in front of her glaring defiantly at the Master. "Brave to the last."

"It's easy when it's against scum like you." Stella snarled then Tom ran out of the house.

"Tom! No!" Martha called out.

"No!" Tom ran forward gun raised, but the Master was faster, killing him mid run.

"You monster." Stella snapped as the Master just laughed then looked thoughtful.

"But you, when you both die, the Doctor should be witness, hmm?" The master mused. "Almost dawn, Martha, Stella, and planet Earth marches to war."

-0-

"Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe!" the Master's voice came over the loudspeaker.

The doors to the conference room opened and four guards escorted Martha and Stella inside. They walked forward, to one side was Martha's family, on the other, Jack. As they got closer to the stairs they saw where the Master was standing was the Doctor in his cage, Stella smiled softly at him, her heart jolting in her chest.

"Your teleport device," the Master stated, "In case you thought I'd forgotten," Martha pulled it out from her pocket and tossed it to him, "And now…kneel," they did though Stella's head remained up defiantly refusing to lower it, "Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the Universe," he walked to the comm., "Are we ready?"

"The fleet awaits your signal," a man replied, "Rejoice!"

"Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down!" he flicked a switch and a clock on the wall started to count down the seconds, he turned to Martha and Stella with a grin, "I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"

"We will fly and blaze and slice!" Came the reply of thousands of Toclafane, "We will fly and blaze and slice!"

"At zero, to mark this day, the child, Martha Jones and Stella Quinn, will die. Ha, my first blood. Ha, any last words? No?" he looked at the Doctor, before turning to Martha and Stella, "Such a disappointment you've both been. Days of old, Doctor, you had Companions who could absorb the Time Vortex. These two are useless!" he glared at them, "Bow your head."

"If you're going to kill me, you're going to look me in the eye." Stella replied raising her chin with a wicked grin matching the glint in her eyes.

"Fine, have it your way." The Master shrugged. "And so it falls to me, the Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords! From this day forward…" Martha started to laugh and Stella soon joined shaking her head. "What? What's so funny?"

"A gun?" Martha raised an eyebrow.

"What about it?" the Master replied.

"A gun in four parts?" Stella added.

"Yes, and I destroyed it." The Master said.

"A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on. Did you really believe that?" Martha said.

"You've been watching too much TV." Stella scoffed rolling her eyes.

"What do you mean?" The master questioned.

"As if I would ask them to kill," the Doctor rasped out as he clung to the bars of the cage.

"Oh, well, it doesn't matter. I've got them exactly where I want them." The master sneered.

"But we knew what professor Docherty would do." Martha argued, recalling the woman who had given them up, "The Resistance knew about her son. We told her about the gun, so she'd get us here. At the right time."

"Oh, but you're still gonna die!" The master snapped.

"Don't you wanna know what we were doing? Travelling the world?" Stella questioned with a smug look.

"Tell me." The master said.

"We told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. We did just what the Doctor said. We went across the continents all on our own. And everywhere we went, we found the people, and we told them our story. We told them about the Doctor." Stella smiled to the Doctor. "And we told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."

"Faith and hope? Is that all?" The master sneered.

"No, 'cos we gave them an instruction. Just as the Doctor said," Martha stood up, recalling his words to use the countdown, Stella standing with her. "We told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time…"

"Nothing will happen! Is that your weapon? Prayer?" The master scoffed.

"Right across the world. One word, just one thought, at one moment…but with 15 satellites!" Stella smirked as she rocked on her heels.

"What?" The master breathed out.

"The Archangel Network," Jack grinned.

"A telepathic field binding the whole human race together," Martha nodded, "With all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word…is Doctor."

The countdown hit zero and a glowing field of white appeared around the Doctor.

"Stop it!" the Master shouted, staring at him in horror, "No, no, no, no, you don't!"

"Doctor," Jack closed his eyes.

"Doctor," as did Mrs. Jones.

"Don…" the Master warned but a large plasma screen showed crowds of people all across the world, gathering, chanting 'Doctor,' "Stop this right now! Stop it!"

"Doctor," even Lucy closed her eyes.

"Doctor," Martha did the same.

"Doctor." Stella sighed as she let her eyes drift closed and the Doctor broke out of his cage, now regressed to an old man,

"I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices." The Doctor said.

"I order you to stop!" the Master shouted, but everyone started chanting louder, all around the world. The Doctor smiled as he returned to his normal younger looking self.

"The one thing you can't do, stop them thinking," The Doctor levitated, using the telepathic field, as the Master looked on, shocked, "Tell me the human race is degenerate now when they can do this."

Martha ran over to her family and Stella ran over to Jack wrapping their arms around each other.

"No!" the Master fired at him but the Doctor deflected it.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." The Doctor said.

"Then I'll kill them!" He turned the laser on Martha, Stella, and the others, but the Doctor threw it across the room telekinetically, "You can't do this! You can't do…it's not fair!"

"And you know what happens now." The Doctor said.

"No!" he backed up as the Doctor floated closer to him, "No!" he groveled, "No! No!"

"You wouldn't listen…" The Doctor went on.

"No!" the Master sobbed.

"…because you know what I'm going to say." The Doctor continued.

"No!" he curled into a fetal position as the Doctor landed and walked over to him, wrapping his arms around him.

"I forgive you." The Doctor said.

"My children!" he suddenly shouted, "Protect the machine!"

"Protect the paradox!" the Toclafane called over the comm., "Protect the paradox! Protect the paradox!"

"Captain, the paradox machine!" The Doctor called out.

"You men with me!" Jack turned, running out with a few guards, "You stay here!"

The Master pulled out the Manipulator and started to punch in some coordinates.

"No!" the Doctor grabbed onto it moments before it was activated and they disappeared, reappearing on a rocky cliff.

"Now it ends, Doctor!" the Master held out his arms, "Now it ends."

And then the alarms went off blaring around them, red lights flashing warning them of the danger they were in.

"We've all 6 billion spheres heading straight for us," Martha said as she followed Stella up to the helm, "What do we do?"

"We need to give the Doctor some time so let's try this." Stella began to type furiously at computer along with using her sonic abilities. A shock waved was fired causing some of the Spheres to fall from the sky. "EMP pulse coupled with a burst of electricity, same voltage we used before."

"That's amazing." Martha said as Stella sent out another taking out a few more spheres, but suddenly they all disappeared and the ship shook wildly like it was in the midst of a hurricane sending paper flying everywhere.

"Get away from the windows." Stella yelled as she and Martha ran down back to the floor, but another jolt sent Stella falling backwards straight into the Doctor's arms, her arms automatically circling his neck. "Nice catch."

"Thanks, anytime." The Doctor replied as he pulled her to the ground. "Everyone get down! Time is reversing!"

A bright light filled the room as people clung to what they could find as time rolled back until…it faded and everything was back the way it was. The Doctor jumped up and ran to the controls pulling Stella with him, their fingers intertwined.

"The paradox is broken," The Doctor cheered, "We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past 8:00 in the morning,"

Stella reached over and flicked on the comm, a voice calling out in panic through the speakers.

"This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated!"

"You see?" The Doctor grinned, looking around, "Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the spheres?" Martha asked.

"Trapped at the end of the Universe," Stella replied.

"But I remember it," Mrs. Jones frowned.

"We're at the eye of the storm," the Doctor told her, "The only ones who'll ever know…" and then he spotted Mr. Jones, "Oh, hello! You must be Mr. Jones! We haven't actually met…"

The Master made a break for it, only for the door to open and Jack to grab him as he walked in,

"Whoa, big fella! You don't want to miss the party," he looked at a guard, "Cuffs," and proceeded to lock the Master's hands together before him, "So, what do we do with this one?"

Jack lead him to the center of the room, standing on one side as Martha were on the other, the Doctor and Stella before him with the Joneses behind him.

"We kill him," Mr. Jones glared.

"We execute him," Tish agreed.

"No, that's not the solution," the Doctor shook his head.

"Oh, I think so," Mrs. Jones grabbed a gun off the floor and aimed it at the Master, "'Cos all those…things, they still happened because of him. I saw them."

"Go on!" the Master grinned, "Do it!"

"You're better than him," the Doctor reached out and took her hand, slowly lowering the gun till he could hug her. Martha walked over and took her mother from him, hugging her tightly.

"You still haven't answered the question. What happens to me?" The master demanded.

"You're my responsibility from now on. The only Time Lord left in existence." The Doctor replied.

"But you can't trust him," Jack argued, stepping forward to look at the two of them.

"No," the Doctor agreed, "The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."

"You mean you're just gonna…keep me?" the Master frowned.

"In the TARDIS though?" Jack stepped over to the Doctor, speaking quietly.

"Hmm," he nodded, "If that's what I have to do," he looked at Jack, "It's time to change. Maybe I've been wandering for too long. Now I'll have someone else to care for."

"Babysitting the master, that's going to be interesting." Stella remarked rubbing the back of her head.

"You still want to come, I mean it won't be like before, but…" The Doctor looked to her hopefully.

"Of course I want to come." Stella replied as he took her hand in his entwining their fingers, a year was a long time to think things over. "Where you go I go."

A gun shot rang out hitting the Master, a bleeding hole in his chest. Lucy had a gun and a horrified expression. Jack glared, the gun he'd grabbed smoking. The Doctor ran forward and caught the Master as he staggered back.

"There you go. I've got you. I've got you." The Doctor said as he cradled him.

"Always the women." The Master scoffed weakly.

"I didn't see her." The Doctor said, tears in his eyes.

"Dying in your arms. Happy now?" The master sneered.

"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate." The Doctor said.

"No." The Master replied.

"One little bullet. Come on." The Doctor begged.

"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse." The Master said.

"Regenerate. Just regenerate. Please. Please! Just regenerate. Come on." The Doctor sobbed.

"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you and your girlfriend?" The master glared up at him.

"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks." The Doctor ranted. "We're the only two left. There's no one else. Regenerate!"

"How about that. I win." The master smiled then his face became fearful. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"

"No!" The Doctor cried out as the Master died, clutching him close as he rocked back and forth.

That night the Doctor stood before a pyre, the Master's body on top of it, with a lit torch in his hand. He reached out and lit the bottom of it, watching sadly as the pyre caught fire, before glancing at Stella who wanted to be there for him. The Doctor walked over to her taking her hand in his as they watched the pyre burn for a moment longer, before walking off into the night.

-0-

Alison Docherty was walking along a path when Martha and Stella ran up to her and give her a bunch of flowers.

"Just to say, I don't blame you." Martha said smiling brightly.

"And thank you." Stella added with a wink before they ran off again.

"But who are you?" Docherty called after them receiving no answer.

-0-

The Doctor, Martha, and Jack stood, leaning on the railings by the Pierhead Building in Cardiff, Stella sitting on the railing swinging her legs back and forth.

"Time was," Martha commented, looking around at the people, "Every single one of these people knew your name. Now they've all forgotten you."

"Good," the Doctor replied.

"Back to work," Jack decided, ducking under a railing.

"I really don't mind, though. Come with us." The Doctor said.

"I had plenty of time to think that past year, the Year-That-Never-Was. And I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor, responsibility." Jack said.

"Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that," The Doctor reached out to shake Jack's hand but exposed his Manipulator as well.

"Hey, I need that!" Jack exclaimed.

"We can't have you walking around with a time travelling teleport," the Doctor soniced it, "You could go anywhere, twice."

"The second time to apologize." Stella smarted off.

"Ha, ha." Jack rolled his eyes at her before looking to the Doctor. "And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"

"Nothing we can do. You're an impossible thing, Jack." The Doctor said.

"Been called that before," Jack laughed then saluted them, "Sir. Ma'am, Stella." He pulled Stella off the railing and into a tight hug kissing her cheek. "Be good kid."

"Never." Stella smirked.

"That's my girl." Jack ruffled her hair then turned to go and then stopped, "But I keep wondering…what about aging? 'Cos I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"

"I really don't know." The Doctor replied and Jack laughed again.

"Okay, vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid back on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. 'The Face of Boe' they called me." Jack said thoughtfully. "Hmm, I'll see you."

"Can't be," Martha breathed, her eyes wide.

"That would explain how Boe seemed to know me so well the first time we met and why he never wanted to meet Jack." Stella mused, shaking her head in amusement.

"No, definitely not," the Doctor shook his head, "No," Martha and Stella laughed at his denial. "No!"

"Oh come on Doctor, you of all people should know that anything is possible." Stella smirked at the shocked look on his face.

-0-

The Doctor and Stella stood hand in hand as they watched Francine, Martha, Clive and Tish inside the house from across the street where the Tardis was parked, then goes inside it, Stella following.

"I don't know whether that is really creepy or really cool." Stella said as she looked down at the Doctor's spare hand, now attached to the base of the console.

"Little bit of both I suppose." The Doctor said standing next to her.

"Hey, check it out. I made some modifications to my systems over the year." Stella said holding up her hands allowing the tips to become blue and emit a very familiar sonic sound. "Neat huh?"

"Stella, that's brilliant." The Doctor said as he took her hands in his looking them over in interest. "Sonic hands."

"Yeah well I thought that holographic tools were a little old school." Stella said with a smile, enjoying the feeling of the Doctors hands on hers. She noticed with a blush that the Doctors touch became less exploratory and more caressing, his touches sending sparks through her making her heart beat faster.

"Stella, about our time as John and Astraia …" The Doctor started hesitantly as he met her gaze, his nerves showing in his eyes, a look she was sure was reflected in her own eyes. "I was wondering if maybe you…well you'd be interested in giving it a go as Stella and the Doctor." The Doctor took out the daisy she had given him in the clear resin now hanging from a thin gold chain and placed it around her neck, his fingers brushing against her neck. She reached up her fingers brushing against the pendant as she looked up at him her eyes wide. "What do you say?" Stella's face fell as she gripped the pendant and starred down at the ground to avoid the Doctor's gaze. "Stella?"

"I'm sorry." Stella shook her head with a sniffle, trying not to cry.

"Why? What's wrong?" The Doctor felt his hearts sinking. "If you don't…"

"No, no it's not that, it has nothing to do with you, it's me." Stella brushed angrily at her eyes. "It just wouldn't work."

"Why not?" The Doctor asked softly.

"I can't give you what you want." Stella said hoarsely.

"Please Stella." The Doctor took hold of her shoulders gently.

"It's not a nice story." Stella's hands tightened into fists.

"Tell me anyway." The Doctor replied gently.

"When they changed me, made me a cyborg, they…they…" Stella covered her face with her hands, taking in a deep breath, trying to control her tears.

"Stella, you can tell me anything." The Doctor said pulling her into a tight hug rubbing her back as she gathered herself.

"Doctor, I can't have children, they took it from me, the ability." Stella said brokenly as she gripped his jacket. "That's why my past relationships failed, why my husband left me, and there is no way to reverse it, I've tried, but nothing worked. I was made to be a soldier and they wanted no distractions. That's why it would never work, I can't give you a family….I….I'm…" Stella shook her head pulling away about to make a run for it, but the Doctor stopped her holding onto her arms so she couldn't run. "Please…"

"Stella, I still want to have a relationship with you." The Doctor said making her look up at him in shock and disbelief. He reached up gently cupping the side of her face, his eyes so warm and sincere. "I have come to care about you a great deal and think we could have a good life together."

"But…" Stella started.

"No but's, you not being able to…that makes no difference to me. You'll be my family and that's all I need." The Doctor gently rubbed her tears away with the pad of his thumb. "So if you're willing to put up with me and the situations that we will undoubtedly get into I'd like to give this a try."

"Really?" Stella looked up at him with such hope in her eyes he felt his hearts jolt.

"Really." He assured her.

"Then…I'd like that to." Stella smiled widely through her tears as he wrapped his arm around her waist pulling her close, and she in turned wrapped her arms just as tightly around him.

"Good." He said leaning down kissing her lovingly, feeling her with a warmth that fixed so many years of loneliness and heartbreak…for both of them.

-0-

Martha came out of the house walking toward the TARDIS, making a telephone call as she did, a grin playing along her features.

"Yeah. Could you put me through? Hi, I'm looking for a Doctor Thomas Milligan." Martha said into the phone, then waited for a moment as the call was transferred.

"Yeah." Tom answered, but Martha did not answer. "Hello? Hello?"

Martha hung up with a beaming smile then walked into the TARDIS.

"Right then, off we go. The open road. There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look?" The Doctor smiled at Martha.

"Or if I might make a suggestion, back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth." Stella offered also smiling brightly.

"I know. What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant." The Doctor said then his smile faded as did Stella's knowing the look on Martha's face. "Okay."

"I just can't." Martha said softly.

"Yeah." Stella breathed out nodding in understanding.

"Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them." Martha explained.

"Of course not. Thank you. Martha Jones, you saved the world." The Doctor smiled.

"Yes, I did with Stella's help. I spent a lot of time with you thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good." Martha said smugly.

"Better than good, you're amazing." Stella hugged her.

"Thanks." Martha hugged her back. "You're going to be all right, the both of you?"

"Always, yeah." The Doctor said as Stella nodded.

"Right then. Bye." Martha left, then went back inside. "Because the thing is, it's like my friend Vicky. She lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them all packed in, and this bloke was called Sean. And she loved him. She did. She completely adored him." Martha started to rant causing the Doctor and Stella to exchange confused/ surprised looks. "Spent all day long talking about him."

"Is this going anywhere?" The Doctor broke in.

"Yes. Because he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him. Years of her life. Because while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said, get out. So this is me, getting out, but that doesn't mean that I'm not happy for you, I really am and I wish you both all the best." Martha said with a smile.

"Thank you." Stella said going up to Martha pulling the girls into a tight hug, happy that she wasn't mad or anything. When they pulled back Martha pressed her mobile into Stella's hands.

"Keep that, because I'm not having you disappear." Martha said seriously as she squeezed Stella's hands before releasing them and sending the Doctor another smile. "If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running, both of you. Got it?"

"Got it." The Doctor nodded.

"Yes ma'am." Stella mock saluted.

"I'll see you again, mister and you as well Stella." Martha said before she left and the Tardis dematerialized.

-0-

The Doctor pulled a lever on the console as Stella watched him for a moment before walking up behind him wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her chin on his shoulder having to stretch a bit and stand on her tiptoes to do so.

"I don't know about you, but I am starving." Stella offered as he placed his hands over hers.

"You're not thinking of cooking are you?" The Doctor asked cautiously. One of the things amongst others that Stella could never get the hang of was cooking, it was just bad, so very, very bad.

"No and I'm not that bad." Stella shot him a look. "I know a great Diner on Callistallia Prime, best banana pancakes ever."

"Sounds great." The Doctor took one of her hands kissing the back of it along one of the opal blue lines that accented it.

"I'll go get cleaned up real quick and then we can head out." Stella said hugging him once more before going down the hall when suddenly an alarm went off sending her stumbling as the ship jolted. "Doctor. Is everything ok?"

"Fine." She heard him call back at her, in a slightly higher than normal voice. Shrugging she continued onto her room, got cleaned up, and changed her clothes to a draped purple sweater dress, maroon tights, as black pea coat, and black boots then walked back to the console room.

"Oh, Doctor, remember to put your shields up." Stella heard someone say just as she entered the console room.

"Doctor, are…." Stella and the Fifth Doctor spotted each other, fives eyes widening slightly just before he vanished. "Who was that?"

"Me, in my fifth regeneration." The Doctor smiled as she walked up to him.

"Well that explains why he was so handsome." Stella commented.

"Well…" The Doctor smiled cheekily.

"What shields was he talking about?" Stella asked suddenly.

"Oh right…" The Doctor said just as he pressed the button, there was the sound of a ships horn and a prow came crashing into the console room. The Doctor grabbed Stella covering her with his body as debris rained down on them. When everything stilled they both got up in shock.

"Ok, that happened." Stella shook dust from her hair.

"What? What!" The Doctor picked up a life belt that said Titanic in bold letters. "What."

-0-

 _ **Continued in Stella by Starlight: You're my Star**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**The new story is up, I hope you like it.**_

 _ **Stella by Starlight: You're my Star**_


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